From the Band Room to Beacon
by chronoman
Summary: I never signed up for this you know, none of us did. But I guess the universe really loves to throw curveballs at you. What really scares me is the tiny little girl holding the scythe, or maybe Coco with her minigun. Sends shivers up mine and Reese's spine, I don't know why Sam thinks that's hot. Oh not to mention, getting back to Earth is gonna suck! Swearing. *SI/OC-ish*
1. Chapter 1: One Hell of a Car Ride

**Author's Note: So this is going to be a different sort of Self Insert Story. Instead of just being one person going into the world of Remnant I'm going to put in a good chunk of people who I know. There names will be changed in case one of them somehow, somewhere, find this abomination. Secondly, while I am fine with writing certain levels of vulgarity I will not be explicitly writing out f-bombs, instead I will illude in a not-so subtle fashion. With that out of the way let's get underway with this hunk of junk!**

Chapter 1: One Hell of a Car Ride

A sudden dip jolted the Chevy Pickup driving across the freeway. A chorus of 'ugh' broke the silence, that and the constant droning of the tires running across the road. Four people sat in the pickup driving on the I5 freeway in the United States. They all knew each other to some extent as they shared a few classes with one another but the one class they all had together was one you wouldn't expect: Band. Yes the people in the car were musicians, or what could pass as musicians for high schoolers. They varied in their instrumentation. Brandon, who was driving, played the Bass Trombone and was one of the more 'lively' members. Sam, a sophomore, known for his skills on the Alto Sax and his knowledge of music, most people assumed he would become a band teacher in his later years. Jeffery, who preferred to go by 'Reese' for some good reason, was one of the percussionists and was slightly pissed he didn't get to be with the other 'percs'. Then finally in the pickup was Travis a Euphonium/Baritone Horn player who was quite good at solos and was seen as one of the more dependable people in the class. There was one other car behind the lead of Chevy Pickup but their names and lives aren't important right now. Travis' eyes were closed as he nodded his head to music in his earbuds, Reese was staring out the window looking at the sky, and Brandon was talking with Sam about music and other band stuff while band arrangements played over the speakers.

"I'm just saying we need to play this one day," Sam said moving his fingers imitating a conductor's baton.

"Yeah well let's get this performance over with and maybe we'll look at it," Brandon replied keeping one hand on the wheel while contemplating and moving his hand over his freckled and scraggly haired chin, "you do realize that Trav is going to have his chops busted with the amount of high notes in it."

Sam looked back and saw Travis had not heard his earlier comment and saw his position change to where his foot rested on his other knee creating a small triangle of space as his legs hopped up and down with the beat of whatever he was listening to. Reese turned to look at Travis and saw Sam staring him down and tapped the Euphonium player's leg catching him by surprise. Travis quickly pulled out his right earbud and looked back to Reese who pointed at Sam's mug.

"May I help you?" Travis asked in a tone where his pitch raised overtime.

"Yeah, what if we played this song?" Sam said in a quick fashion with a certain certainty in his voice like he knew it was going to be a sure thing.

Trav took out the other earbud in his left and closed his eyes holding his chin with his eyes moving his top half with the song. After a the melody had passed and suddenly went to a long rest Travis answered. "Doesn't sound too bad, but Kendra and Kylie will skewer us with those Clarinet riffs." Sam tilted his head as the same riffs came back ands noticed how fast and high it required the two female Clarinet players in the other cars behind them.

"Oh yeah," Sam noted with a touch of disappointment in his voice.

"I don't know, I kind of think it's possible," Reese suddenly chimed in which got him looks from Sam and Travis.

"Of course you would you're a filthy percussionist. And in this song all there is a few Timpani hits," Travis joked putting one of his classic asshole responses to use.

"F**k you too Travis," Reese retorted with a chuckle, smile, and a one finger salute.

Travis had a certain way with words that could only be described as being an 'ass', or what called the biggest of all 'equal opportunity jerks', as he didn't care so long as he got to make fun of somebody. Even if he didn't have anybody else to make fun of he would resort to using himself as the subject material usually lightening the mood and allowing him to make fun of people.

They hit another bump and all their bodies shift upwards for fractions of a second then the sound of Sam's phone went off with a ringtone that the group had grown all too familiar with on this trip. They all groaned and went back to the positions they were once in except without Travis' earbuds lodged in his ears.

"What do you want _now_ Kendra?" Sam said over the roar of the wheels now enveloping the silence.

"Hey could you tell Brandon that were going to have to stop soon?" Sam's cousin inquired over the phone.

"Again?" Sam responded in a tone that more or less translated to: 'really'.

"Yeah," Kendra replied in a very ' _don't hurt me, I'm sorry,_ ' tone, "someone had to have three Monsters before they left.

A small 'Hey!' could be heard from the receiver that all of the occupants in the pickup could hear with them backing in reaction. Sam sighed with an "Ok" and hung up.

"What was that about?" Brandon asked shifting his hands going along with a turn in the freeway.

"We're going to have to stop," Sam replied with Reese and Travis collectively groaning, "hey don't blame me, blame the guy who had drink three Monsters."

Even though Sam didn't say directly who did drink the energy drinks they all knew and Travis shook his head at the window. "I swear I'm going to kill Franklin when we stop."

A blue metal sign with the words 'Rest Stop in 5 Miles' came into vision and Brandon tapped Sam's shoulder and pointed to the sign. "Text Kylie that there's a rest stop soon, we'll stop there."

Sam texted the other clarinet player and within few minutes his phone buzzed with a message of _~Thank you~._ "Well that's that," Sam said laying his head up against his seat and closing his eyes. The car was quiet except for the new song that came up. A song they themselves had played to often: 'Country Gardens' by Percy Grainger. As the song played each of them hummed their own parts since they knew the tune all too well. A big rig in front of the Chevy Pickup began to slowly oscillate its load back and forth making Brandon screech on the brakes.

"Whoa!" Brandon yelled planting his foot on the left pedal.

"What the hell is going on?" Travis asked with a certain emphasis on the word 'hell'.

"This truck is getting lopsided ahead of us here," Brandon replied pointing at the big rig who now was trying to get over to the right side of the lanes.

The truck was massive, and a tanker. It grinded to who fast lane to a grinding halt with the usual sounds of horns blaring thinking the problem will magically go away if they honk loud enough. The other lanes were moving at a relatively good place and when it looked clear the truck began to make the trek across the lanes. Brandon began to massage his temple trying to avoid a nasty headache. However from behind came the sound of a screeching engine and the roar of motors as a sports car came zooming down the empty lanes. It weaved in and out dodging cars that were trying to slow down for the truck. Well it didn't know why the other cars were slowing but by the time it noticed it, it was too late. Trying to swerve to the side the front end went in at an angle piercing the tank full of what could be assumed to be gasoline. The liquid soon was beginning to spill out of the tank claiming seemingly taking over the ground with its flammable substance. Brandon took one look and his eyes went to the size of saucers.

"Everybody get out!" He yelled opening the door and undoing his seatbelt.

When they noticed what was happening many 'Oh shits' and 'F**K RUNs' were yelled as many people began to flee. The next thing anybody knew was the sound of the 'KBOOM' and a white flash swallowed the air and space.

Travis woke up but didn't open his eyes as his body was unwilling to move. He felt a small breeze and the sound of trees moving caught his attention. _Well am I dead? Is this hell? Or Heaven? I expected more of a welcome. If I see Franklin then I'm going to say it's Hell. I should probably get up. But it's so comfy on this grass._ Travis then paused and then one of his eyes shot open with a realization. _Wait a minute, since when was grass apart of the afterlife?_ When the Euphonium player opened his other eye he was in a large forest. _Just my luck_ , he thought. He brushed the dirt out of his dishwater blonde hair that nearly went to his eyes, covered his ears from the cold, and covered a majority of neck but stopping before the bottom. He patted his grey-ish blue zip up hoodie along with his blue jeans and began to crack his neck. While most people found it disgusting Travis took pleasure in cracking his bones, primarily all of them. He started with his neck, then the shoulders, the hands, waist, knees, and the grand finale was done by his toes finished with the ankles.

"Oh god I been in that car for too long," Travis noted while not yet fully comprehending what happened. Then it hit him. "Wait a minute!" He said looking around at the forest around him. "Where the hell am I?!" He took steps in all directions turning his neck like a puppet trying to get a better view. He cupped his hands around his mouth. "Reese!? Brandon!? Sam!?" He yelled trying to get a response. A response did come, but not the one he was expecting.

"Hey did you hear something?" An unfamiliar voice from a distance said."

"I don't know but we need to get back to base soon," A second voice pointed out.

"Ahh, come on if it's a human maybe we'll get to shoot them."

That last part didn't sit too well with the Euphonium player. Unsurprisingly, the comment made a pit so big it could be used to put bodies in it or swallow stars wholes. He quickly ducked behind a tree as the sound of a motor and two yellow headlights came to where he was. _Okay Travis there is a completely logical explanation for this. It could be an awful dream. No too real. Okay think!_ After going over his options he unfortunately had to go with the most illogical response, _I have to be in another world._ After a few seconds he followed up his thought, _note to self don't watch the Matrix movies after two o'clock ever….again_. Two, what looked like, soldiers stepped out of what looked like a jeep carrying strange looking uniforms with black hoods. As one turned around he could see a red animalistic face with three red claws. Travis didn't know but at the time he would have his first run in with the White the other got closer he noticed that from his chin came two….tusks? _Great! Furries from another dimension! I guess the infestation went to all the universes._ He reset his foot and because fate was being especially asshole-like a twig snapped where he placed his foot. _Aw son of a bitch!_ The White Fang guard suddenly turned to the tree where Travis was and slowly walked forward bringing his gun up to attention. Trav began to quiet his breathing and crack his fingers quietly, _okay let's see if you remember those martial arts you took all those years ago._

The guard's gun got passed Trav's face as when he saw his gloved hand he quickly went in. Grabbing the barrel and one going to the arm of the opposition. Catching the man off guard Trav was able to get the shotgun away from the White Fang member with the tusks. "Hey what the-?!" He yelled as Travis then kicked the faunas in the head with a roundhouse. _I kinda still got it_ , he noted getting his hands in a on the gun in a downward position. The faunas wiped a bit of blood from his mouth and charged at him saying, "oh why you little brat!" He grabbed the gun and the two began to struggle for control. The White Fang had the trigger but Travis had the barrel. When it close to Travis' face he fired the trigger and barely missed the human's head. The shot did cause a pain in Trav's ear, you could tell by his corresponding eye wincing from the pain. When Trav got close and got enough of a grip he jerked the shotgun to the side and tripped the faunas attacker. He pointed the barrel at the nose of the White Fang member who gave a small chuckle. "Heh-heh. Sorry?" Which was followed by "I don't think you understand what that word means. He didn't shoot the guy, Travis was not the murderous type, but instead he kicked the head of the White Fang member like a soccer ball incapacitating him. When his adrenaline high wore off he slid down the side of the jeep and took a nice long deep breath.

"Well that was…. interesting," Travis told himself still taking heavy breaths, "went on a band trip, nearly got blown up, and just fought for my life with a very convincing furry. Well done Travis." Some time passed before he spoke again as he remembered something that made him feel dread. "Wasn't there a second one?" He whispered.

Almost on cue a second White Fang soldier came out from behind the jeep and pointed a pistol at Trav's face. _Aw son of a bitch,_ he thought. The White Fang soldier gave a small chuckle.

"Humans. What a bunch of dumb idiots." The man said about to fire.

Before he could fire Travis had noticed a pipe sitting in the back of the jeep. Why was there a pipe? Good question. Maybe fate was throwing him a bone. _Well I was always better with stalves than anything else._ With one quick and precise motion he grabbed the staff and pulled it down as if it were a truck horn. The pipe smacked right on the dome of the White Fang's head leading to him to wildly flail the pistol to the side as it fired.

"Ahh god! That hurt you little human punk!" He screamed holding and nursing his head. He looked back up still angry and pointed the pistol back at Travis who was still tired. Trav couldn't react that fast, he had gotten lucky the first two times but his stamina was gone. _Well looks like this is it. Going to die on some god forsaken world with no one to remember me except to make bad jokes about me._ Then before the guard was able to fire a brown and yellow blur zipped past the screen. Whatever it was the guard was thrown into a nearby tree and knocked unconscious with a solid *thud* of hitting the tree. When Trav looked back at what had saved him he noticed a girl probably about two years older than him standing in brown and yellow armor with black leggings and pointy shoes. _What the hell is wrong with this place?_ He asked looking to the side deciding not to say anything. Then Travis noticed that the girl had a pair of rabbit ears. Due to the past few minutes he was not going to trust anybody with animal features. He brought the six foot long pipe he was still holding to a defensive position. She turned and was a little bit alarm.

"Oh don't worry," she said in a very sweet almost british accent and a kind smile, "I'm here to help."

 _Either she telling the truth or she one hell of a liar,_ he thought then bringing the pipe down and leaning against it like an oversized cane. For some reason his breathing became short as his fear had caught up with him and the adrenaline dies down for a second time. He leaned himself up against the jeep door and the rabbit girl slowly walked towards him.

"Are you okay?" she said extending an arm which is quickly brushed away.

"This can't be real," the mysterious man in the eyes of Velvet replied with a concerned look on both of their faces for various reasons as the man's head turned to the side, "you with the ears, them trying to kill me, I was just on an overpass not more than thirty minutes ago how am I here?"

Velvet got closer and placed a hand on Travis' shoulder which caught his attention. "It's fine, you're alright you just seem a bit flustered. Do you have a name?"

Travis took a minute to realize what the rabbit faunas had just ask then looked her in the eyes. "Travis. It's Travis." He answered seeming a bit more calm.

"Well it's nice to meet you Travis. My name is Velvet," Velvet told the flustered Euphonium player with a cheerful smile. Velvet quickly turned and to side and angled an ear towards that direction. "We got to go," she announced walking up to the jeep behind Travis, "come on.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Travis said stopping everything, "what makes you think I should get in that car with you? How do I not know you're with them?" Velvet turned and just gave him a look that basically said: ' _Are you really that stupid'_. And within seconds Travis broke down and said in his usual snarky tone, "ok you win but if this ends of killing me I'll haunt your family till they die."

Velvet sort of ignored Travis' last comment and looked at the jeep. The keys weren't in the ignition. _Drat,_ Velvet thought then said, "Can you hotwire a car?"

Travis then returned the ' _Are you really that stupid'_ look and then said in his classic sarcastic tone but with a twinge of seriousness, "you know what my wiring skills a little rusty but shit, I'm in god knows where so I may as well take a crack at it." He walked towards the jeep and ripped off the bottom panel and a few stands of wires fell out. Tracing back to where they came from he began to think about how the engine worked and what would probably be the best method. He wasn't lying when he said his wiring was rusty he was planning on being an engineer when he got a degree. He wasn't planning on going into electrical engineering but it was good to be well rounded in some aspects. Velvet, meanwhile, was looking at the two guards seeing if they had the keys to what would hopefully be her and the mysterious man's getaway vehicle. One of the words intrigued her and made her question who this guy was. _Shit,_ she pondered. Remnant was known to have some words that weren't meant to be said by younger people. Whoever this guy was he was definitely too young to be saying stuff like that aloud. Under your breath, sure, but not to say it in the company of another person. Her train of thought was interrupted as the sound of the jeep's engine roared to life. Travis stood at the door with a smug look. All Velvet did was walk past him and frown at one little detail that she forgot about.

"Do you know how to drive a manual?" She asked sweetly with a sorry smile.

Travis facepalmed, followed by a long sigh, and then took control of the driver's side seat placing his left foot on the clutch and his right hand on the stick of the jeep. "Oh for god's sake get in!" He yelled, thank god his mother taught him to drive a stick shift. The brown and yellow clad girl leaped over the back and sat in the passenger side seat. The moment he stepped on the gas with his right the left foot on the clutch eased up and his right hand shifted the stick from first gear to second. The back of the jeep made a wide turn kicking up dirt then going forward when the wheels got traction. Velvet felt something vibrate and by instinct she opened her scroll to see Coco, her team leader, was calling her. Travis got a quick glance at Velvet and saw she was calling somebody with a what looked like an advancement in technology that made him jealous. It looked like a regular smart phone but with a holographic display which peaked his interest. _Well shit I guess the furries got an edge for once._

"Yeah Coco?" She loudly asked over the sound of wind passing by them and the engine.

"Hey Velvet," The Team CFVY leader said then took a small pause, "where are you?"

"I'm in a jeep."

"I thought you couldn't drive a manual?"

"I'm not."

"Well then who is?" Her tone had become more agitated and quizzical.

"Um, you know that disturbance we were asked to take a look at?" Velvet didn't bother waiting for an answer instead she immediately answered, "I found what may have caused it."

There was a pause before Coco spoke again, "Uhmm, he wasn't the only one." This gave Velvet a small shock as she looked back towards Travis who was focused on the grassy terrain. Coco then spoke again, "did he give you a name?"

"Uhm Travis?" She replied with a question. When he heard his name it caught Travis' attention who then nodded in approval when he put two and two together, "Yeah he said it was Travis."

Coco must have turned away from the receiver because her voice was slightly muffled and distanced. But with Velvet's super hearing she was able to pick up "Was Travis apart of your crew? He was, okay." She then brought her face back to the receiver where Velvet could hear her fully. "Yeah just bring him back to the camp we'll talk later, this one's a doozy."

"Ok Coco, see you then," Velvet told her team leader before hanging up followed by a "see you then" from the other side. She then turned to Travis who was still paying attention to the road. "Keep going straight take a left at that boulder," she ordered the driver.

Shifting the gears quickly the jeep accelerated quickly creating more of wind blowing both of their respectively long hair behind them. While Velvet was able to hold her down Travis had to deal with it touching his neck and even his eyes if he slowed down too much. After turning at the boulder a small whisper of smoke could be seen rising into the air. Trav kept accelerating till he saw a familiar sight. The Chevy truck they were driving was blocking the campsite with a little cosmetic damage but was in surprisingly good condition. Letting off the gas pedal the jeep began to slow, but not slow enough.

"Um," Velvet said with a twinge of fear in her voice, "shouldn't we be going slower?"

"Yes," Travis said in an analytical tone and a devilish smile, "but what's life without a little bit of fun. Besides, I've always wanted to do this."

Suddenly shifting gears and stepping on pedals Travis spun the steering wheel to the fake nine o'clock he had been taught to hold the steering wheel at. The car shifted to the a hard ninety that naturally would have flipped it over, but because he was on soft dirt the jeep drifted. It went parallel with the pickup and when its momentum stopped it tipped slightly and nearly fell, giving Velvet a small scare as she held onto the door with one hand and the bottom of her seat with the other. It didn't fall instead it slammed back down on all fours and you could hear the engine hiss from the heat of having been run for such a long time. Slowly, almost robot-like, Velvet opened the door and walked away from the car and more importantly Travis. Travis on the other hand got out like a normal person then cracked his knuckles followed by rotating his left wrist. Three sets of footsteps soon followed by a "What was that?". When the three people came out Travis recognized two of them the third he had no idea. From the hood of the truck came Brandon still in his plaid, button up flannel shirt with his jeans and romeos. If you didn't know it you probably would have asked if he was a redneck. His slightly spiked black hair seemed a bit more flustered than before Travis and the others came about to this world. Reese was facepalming at the events that just took place. While he too had a grey button up shirt that was more dress orientated rather than the brown and black redneck-y style that was Brandon's. Reese was still wearing his snapback which had the Imperial logo from Star Wars on the front of the cap. The third person was a female, probably the one Velvet talked to. She had a certain theme of brown and black, with a twinge of yellow. She had a black beret, some variant of a black corset with a brown (almost yellow) sweater, black pants that had zippers and cut off just before her black heeled boots, a belt of gold bullets, she had a purse that also had bullets for a strap, and finally to top it all off was a pair of aviator sunglasses.

Reese was the first to speak. "Travis what was that?" There was small scoff of laughter when he spoke and a bit of disbelief that Travis would do this.

"What can't have a bit of fun these days? Harsh." Travis noted walking around the hood then leaning up against it.

"Well when you endanger one of my teammates I might have an issue with that," the unfamiliar woman harshly told Travis catching his attention.

Travis paused for awhile and assessed the woman in his usual analytical way then he outstretched his right arm towards her. His tone changed from the more crazed and natural to a calm and collected he often turned to when faced with a stranger. "I don't believe we've met, Travis Basco."

The woman stared back at Travis and then with her arm that didn't have the purse on her shoulder grabbed it and shook it. "Coco Adel," Coco told the crazed driver.

Velvet awkwardly jutted between the two who were given one another glares then separating their hands. "Travis," she said motioning her hand to Reese and Brandon, "would you like to introduce me to these two?"

"Ah of course my apologies," he told Velvet in his calming voice, "Velvet this is Reese and Brandon. Reese, Brandon this is Velvet."

"Nice to meet you," Reese said in his low almost droll voice with a tip of his hat.

"How you doing?" Brandon greeted the rabbit faunas.

"Oh, I'm fine thanks for asking," Velvet responded cheerfully.

"Okay that's enough of the introductions," Coco butted in, "why don't we get back to what we were talking about?"

"Sounds good to me," Brandon agreed.

"You're going to like to hear this," Reese said in an almost joking tone.

They all sat around a fire on logs, boulders, or just on the ground.

"So where were we?" Coco asked Brandon and Reese.

"Um," Reese contemplated while rubbing the sides of his face which had a small amount of facial hair, "I think you just got to the Grimm? That's what they're called right?"

"Ah!" Coco said, That's right. The Grimm are what we huntresses and huntsman fight to protect the people. They are soulless creatures that come in the form of a variety of animals and other things. The Grimm are attracted to negativity, sadness, anger, and other forms of bad emotions. Questions?"

"Yeah," Travis said first causing everybody to look towards him, "what in god's name are we talking about? I clearly didn't come in at the best place for the conversation"

Coco just sighed and shook her head then she looked towards the other two band members. "Don't worry we got this," Brandon said.

"Okay good," Coco sighed then she stood up, "hey Velvet come with me, let's see if the others are getting close."

"Oh, ok," Velvet quickly spoke then stood. Before the two left Velvet turned and waved back at Travis who waved back at her.

It was getting late and the sun began its descent into the curvature of Remnant. The clouds and sky were colored orange, the sounds of birds chirping were still in the air, and the crackling of wood being burnt by the fire filled the air. "So," Travis started, "what I'd miss?"

Brandon looked directly into the Euphonium player's eyes. "Travis," Brandon began, "I don't want you to freak out."

"Oh don't worry. I nearly got my head blown to bits and got saved by some furry. I pretty sure I can handle anything."

"We're in another dimension."

Travis paused with a look the gave off the feel that can only be described as: _.travis_basco has stopped working_. He just stared back at Brandon and then to Reese who nodded in agreement. "You mean-" which was followed by another nod, this time by Brandon, "those two- the girl with the ears- whaaaat?" Travis' analytical brain was beginning to unravel itself. Brandon then spoke so his brain could focus on something else.

"Somehow some way we got transported in the blast with the tanker. I don't know how, so don't go asking me."

"Somehow? Some way? You think interdimensional travel is so easy?!"

"Travis!" Reese suddenly yelled which snapped him out of his ramblings, "It's true."

There was a certain professional relationship between Reese and Travis. Reese was one of the few people who could combat Travis' banter with his own. He was usually cool under pressure which differed from Travis' naturally firebrand approach to figuring out problems. Reese was a tad no nonsense which for some reason gained Reese respect from Travis.

Travis shook his head and stared into the fire. "Okay so let's say we are in a," Travis paused and swallowed his thought before saying it, "'another dimension'. Where are we? What's this placed called? Why are the women on the planet badass warriors? Why are there rabbit ears on Velvet?"

"We are on a planet called Remnant. Coco and Velvet are what they call 'Huntresses' and it's not just a female thing they have males. Velvet appears to be a faunas, a hybrid species of animal and human that live alongside humans, and I don't think they'll like to be called 'furries' so you might want to put a clamp on that. Let's see you heard the spiel on the Grimm….oh yeah forgot to mention, on this planet huntsman and huntresses have access to abilities known as Aura and Semblances. An Aura is almost like a healing factor that also can work as a forcefield. A Semblance is basically a superpower that everybody has but they need to find it by being in various situations," Reese explained in a very thorough and direct manner, "did I miss anything?"

Travis looked back down at the fire taking in everything. "You got to realize this is a lot to take in," he told the two still looking down at the fire, "I mean what you're saying does make logical sense." Travis had been known for the use of the word 'logical' back in school earning him many names over the years.

"Yeah I know, and I know it seems crazy but look where we are. You should've seen her face when we told her where we were from," Brandon told Travis, "I mean you said it yourself you fought for your life earlier."

"And fight you did," a familiar voice said to side of them.

They all turned to see Coco and Velvet off to the side next to the hood of the pickup. This caught them all off guard. "Velvet told me you were able to fight off two White Fang members."

Reese and Brandon look towards Travis with eyebrows raised to which Travis nodded in response. "Is that who those people were?" Travis asked turning his head towards the brown clad huntresses.

"Yeah," Coco replied and she began to go over who the White Fang were,what they stood for, the dark path they went down, and the things they had become.

The talk had brought the group to a silent and depressed mood. It was Travis who then spoke breaking the silence. "So what do we do Brandon?"

"I don't know. I have no clue Travis. We need to find Sam first."

Travis scoffed at the comment then made a point that the other two hadn't thought of. "Are you sure he might even be here? What about the others behind us? How about the other people on the freeway? I mean we could be talking about a little over a hundred people were caught in that explosion Brandon."

After yet another small silence Reese then spoke up. "That is a good point Brandon we don't know if it was just us?"

"Well there's no way to tell, but I will give you guys and option ," Coco interrupted leaning up against truck, "if we find your friend soon we'll take you to Beacon Academy, explain your predicament to Professor Ozpin, and we'll go from there."

They all looked at each other and nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a plan," Brandon spoke for the group of three.

"Okay then, we'll have to hurry if we want to find your other friend. You said his name was Sam right?" Velvet said in her usual happy tone.

"I'll go start the jeep," Travis said standing up followed by an 'oh god' a phrase he usually said when he stood up from being seated.

Reese's head turned and he squinted into the darkening forest as two people came from it. Well two people with a third slung over the shoulder. "Uhh Travis I don't think that will be necessary."

Coco purse suddenly shifted in a massive gatling gun which caught the attention of everybody. But as the two figures came closer she lowered the oversized weapon and gave a small sigh of relief. "Ah, Yatsuhashi, Fox, did you find what you were looking for?"

The two were males of differing body styles. The bigger one, who they assumed to be Yatsuhashi, was massive. Brandon was big, but this guy made him look short. He was clad in green armor and gave off a samurai vibe. On his back was an orange greatsword. The other was a dark skinned man of a thinner build. His hair was red along wit ha red jacket with not sleeves that showed off multiple scars. On his arms were blades that ran along about a little over half the length of the whole appendage. The major thing noticeable was that his eyes were white, no pupils just a white that gave the three an eerie vibe off of him. The mass on Yatsuhashi's shoulder wore a blue quarter zip jacket with grey sweats. His hair was brown and combed to one side with a little bit flair in the way he did it. Even though he appeared to be incapacitated he still had his glasses attached to his face. This was the Saxophonist, Sam.

"What happened to him?" Velvet asked as the green hulking mass set Sam down leaning him up against a log.

"Oh he just saw a beowulf and fainted. We arrived just as he fell to the ground," Yatsuhashi explained with a small chuckle following afterwards.

"I'm going to assume that a beowulf is one of the grimm you spoke of earlier?" Travis turned to Coco who nodded, "well good I didn't really want to go driving at night in a forest with monsters."

"Aww poor baby," Coco mocked, "I'm going to go tell Ozpin about our little find here. Make sure these three don't get any crazy ideas."

"Oh cause you know I'm going to try to beat the woman with a mini gun in her purse," Travis sarcastically said walking back to the fire, "I'm not going to lie I want like ten of those."

This created a small round of laughter from this. Coco wiped a small tear from her eye and pulled out her scroll while walking away. All that could be heard from her was a "Hey Ozpin….". Night had fallen and all but a few were asleep, mainly Reese and Travis. Reese woke rather early to see Travis staring into the distance off to his left overlooking the clouds. He tried to get back to sleep but Travis must have noticed the percussionist stirring.

"Reese what are going to do?" Travis said in a sincere tone.

Travis was never one to talk like that, it almost sounded fearful. Reese sat up and groaned a little from sleeping on the dirt. "I don't know."

"I mean are we stuck here? Can we ever go back? What about everybody else back home?"

"I don't know."

"Are they looking for us? Do they think we're dead? Are Kendra and the others okay?"

"I don't know Travis," this one came with a bit more agitation forcing him to look over at the percussionist's face.

"Yeah I guess you're right. We don't know and we might never know."

"Well we can't do anything until we meet this Ozpin guy. From there we will take our next steps."

"I guess you're right," there was a long pause and Reese was about to lie down, "oh and Reese?"

"Yeah Trav?"

"All I'm going to say is if the technology is amazing and if all the women look as beautiful as Coco and Velvet….I might have stay," this was ended with a scoffing laughter from both of them.

"God Travis go back to bed," Reese told him as he layed back down on the dirt.

"Yeah sure thing man see you tomorrow," Trav expected a response but got none. He looked back at the sky and smiled. _Why do I have a bad feeling about this whole thing_. He quickly dismissed his worrying and closed his eyes and fell back to sleep lying against the wheel of the truck.

What the two didn't notice was that Team CFVY, particularly Coco and Velvet, were still awake. The two snickered at Travis' comment about staying on Remnant. _Well maybe Travis isn't as bad as his I first thought,_ Coco thought in her sleeping bag, _perhaps the have a shot afterall_.

 **Thus ends the first chapter in this story. Hope you enjoyed it, and if you didn't my apologies. I would love to hear constructive criticism about possible ideas, semblances, and fixes to make. However please do note that I will not be shipping anybody, probably. Sincerely, The Author.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Offer of a New Lifetime

**Author's Note: Sup suckers, it the author here. Listen as of right now I've been recovering from wisdom teeth surgery and I don't have school for the next few days because our education system (enough said). The main point from this is don't get too comfortable with these recent updates. When I get back I will have a lot of crap to do because I'm graduating from high school (coincidence?). So again enjoy this while you can hopefully I can keep writing when school starts back up.**

Chapter 2: The Offer of a New Lifetime

The morning came swiftly like it always seems to when you need to slow down. Brandon woke up resting on a log with a campfire. His back was a little sore from the position he was but besides that it was a regular morning. That is until he remembered he was in another world. Quickly panicking for a few seconds before yesterday's events caught up to him. He then sighed a bit to only hear something metal clank and the sound of an expletive coming from an all too familiar voice.

"Aw son of a bitch." Brandon heard Travis say from behind the pickup. When Brandon walked past the pickup he saw the Euphonium player bent over the open hood of the jeep he apparently stole yesterday with grease and oil covering his hands. Out of the corner of his eye Travis quickly turned and said in a sincere tone. "Oh I'm sorry did I wake you?"

"No, not really I had just gotten up," Brandon said stretching out his arms, "whatcha doing?"

"Well if we're going to be stuck here it might be good idea for me to learn a basic trade to scrape up some cash," Travis replied keeping his stare at the open engine of the jeep fiddling with a knob, "and their combustion engines seem rather similar to ours so I thought it would be easy to get a job."

Travis had removed his hoodie exposing his bare arms and red 'Foo-Fighters' t-shirt. He was not the most ripped person, actually scratch that he was known for not having any muscles period. But for some reason you could see muscles as if he had lifting recently. Brandon walked over a looked at his arm then asked the magic question laying his plaid shirt covered arms on the front of the hood. "Have we been pumping the iron Travis?"

"No I haven't and that's something I need to talk to you about," Travis told him still fixed on the piece of machinery.

"Oh yeah like what?"

"Remove your shirt Brandon."

"Umm?"

After a quick sigh Travis reassured him. "Just do it."

Brandon sighed and unbuttoned his brown and black checkered flannel shirt to reveal a black shirt underneath. His arms were slightly buffer than the Trombone player remembered. Yes he was one of the best wrestlers in their state but he never was this buffed out.

"I've noticed some interesting effects since we entered this world," Travis told him knocking Brandon loose from staring at his arms.

"What do you mean?" Brandon asked.

"Yesterday when I had my run in with the White Fang my reaction time had increase to a level I thought long gone. I could weave in and out between the firing of a shotgun, I grabbed a pole and did stuff I haven't done in at least five years, and somehow stay calm during all of it."

"That could've been survival instincts kicking in mixed with adrenaline."

"Then please explain to me how I, of all people, have muscles on my body. You know I haven't taken a gym class since freshman year. I don't remember sleep-exercise being a thing either."

Travis was right in that case, a phrase often said or thought of when around him. He was one of the smartest and seemed to be the most adept students in school. If they needed a piece of music learned quickly because of a sudden reason Travis would learn it faster than anyone else, it was partly what made him a great musician. Travis also happened to be good at most things numbers. Chemistry, physics, calculus, you name it; however it did come with a trade off of him being a bad communicator. He would sometimes stutter, mix up his words, and even talk so fast you couldn't understand him if he was in a formal setting. When it was just him and a few friends, he could tell the most hilarious jokes and come up with philosophical points that bent your minds in way you couldn't imagine, sometimes it was hard to realize they were the same people if you put two sound clips of the two differing voices together. Brandon had to agree, it made the most sense, he saw the evidence right before him. Travis Basco, one of the secondary definitions of a typical nerd, had muscles on his arms and probably his legs and chest but Brandon didn't want to see if that was the case. The sound of metal hitting metal caught the attention of Brandon who had been looking to the side.

"Aw come on," Travis exhaled, "just work you piece of crap." This was then followed by a second clank with another expletive soon following.

Brandon laughed internally at Travis trying to learn how to deal with the vehicle and the long list of obscenities that came from his mouth. He walked back to the logs and saw Sam had woken up. Sam while a sophomore in high school had cemented himself in the top band very easily. With plenty of energy for music, and being pretty good on the sax he had earned his place. Right now though, he was very nervous as Velvet and Yatsuhashi were talking to him probably about what happened to them.

"...then you collapsed when you saw the beowulf. Thankfully it was just the one or you would have been in bigger trouble," Yatsuhashi told the kid who still seemed like he was in a different reality. He then took a glance over to Brandon with big eyes that could be seen from his transition lenses.

"Oh Brandon thank goodness!" Sam sighed with glee before giving him a running hug, "Oh god I was so scared."

Both Velvet and the green warrior gave Brandon confused looks, Brandon was reciprocating the looks while mouthing the words 'I don't know' while pointing to the top of Sam's head.

Then from the other log came the sound of a tired Reese turning over away from the group trying to get comfortable. "Would you guys shut up I'm trying to sleep."

From the other side of the pickup Travis must of heard the rumbling of Reese because he stepped from behind it holding a rag covered with oil. "Reese get your fat-ass up or I'm going to shove a sparkplug up your ass." This caught everybody off guard, mainly Reese, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi. With a groan Reese slowly rose from the log putting his Star Wars cap back on while rubbing his eyes. The fact he said it so nonchalantly sent a chill through the two Remnant natives. They were about to say something to the fouled mouth visitor but Coco and Fox suddenly appeared. The two had been scouting around the area while trying to get in contact with Ozpin during this time.

"Okay listen up people," Coco addressed the group, "a bullhead's going to show up in about an hour or so. We will take these guys to Beacon because Ozpin wants to meet them."

"But wait," Velvet interjected, "what about our mission?"

"Don't worry I've already talked to Ozpin we're going to return to our mission when we get back to Beacon." She then looked at Travis primarily at his oil stained hands, "What happened to you?"

"In a simple world I would say I had an incident with the vehicle. But since I'm not I'm going to say the vehicle fought back."

Coco, as did all of Team CFVY, just shrugged while the three others either face palmed, or sighed. It was Sam who decided to speak next. "What do we do with our crap?" he asked pointing to the pickup that everybody happened to forget about.

"We still have our suitcases and stuff so will be fine there," Reese replied, "our instruments though….we'll need find somewhere to put them."

"We could just blow them up," Travis suddenly suggested then getting faces from the three members of the group prompting the following question, "What? Is there something on my face?"

"You want to get rid of the very thing that makes us who we are?" Brandon fiercely stated, a twinge of hostility was in his voice now, "Are you insane?"

"A little yes," Travis answered the second question first, "but look at it this way we really have no way of returning home, and as much as I want to continue playing I don't see much we could do to advance what we already know." Travis had paused knowing that the three people he had been traveling with still had no way to return to earth. It was partially out of respect but he also was deeply saddened by this fact. All four of the guys looked at the ground depressed before Travis spoke again the sound of sadness in his voice. "My apologies I just want us to go over our options."

The silence had returned for a short while until Reece raised his head. "You're right Travis we have no need for our instruments in this world."

Even though it was Travis who proposed the idea the thought bugged all of them, including the Euphonium player. He had spent nearly seven years of his life to just see it all be burned away? _No we'll keep them it should be easy to transport them._ "It's fine Reece we'll keep the instruments, we can use them as stress relief in certain cases," Travis joked even though there was a small bit of seriousness in there. With a small chuckle from all members present many questions were asked about Ozpin, Beacon, and other things of Remnant that they still didn't understand, which happened to be a lot still. Walking away from the campsite the group of four hunters and regular students walked toward where the rendezvous for the bullhead was. While Reese did not carry any percussion equipment Travis was carrying the rather large case of a Euphonium, sam with his smaller Alto Sax case, and Brandon lugging his Bass Trombone across the field with backpacks they had brought for hotels. The bullhead seemingly coming from nowhere stopped directly above, the articulated engines swiveled into a vertical position just before landing. From afar the four band students saw a woman in white and a black dress with a purple cloak. While they themselves did not know who it was at the time Team CFVY had recognized Ms. Glynda Goodwitch like a spaghetti on a white shirt. After loading themselves all on the large mechanical vehicle they Bullhead lifted from the ground and began its trip back to Beacon to meet this mysterious Ozpin. It was silent, the four had just left most of their past metaphorically behind and none wanted to talk. Travis laid his arm propping his head up on his case since it was the perfect height to do so. Reese was looking downward pushing his hat a bit up with his thumbs, Sam was looking out of the window, and finally Brandon had his eyes closed and his head up against the wall of the Bullhead.

Glynda looked at the four people sitting down occupying most of the seats of the Bullhead, a large scroll-like tablet laid across her stomach flat while her riding crop in its secure place on her lower leg. She was curious as to why these four men were in the forest alone, Ozpin hadn't told her why they were there, just that Coco needed an evac. While she trusted Ozpin she still couldn't help but wonder about some of his decision. He did tell her that one of them did subdue a White Fang member, so maybe they were on a mission? But their cases didn't make sense they didn't carry any weapons that she knew of. And out of all of them only one looked like they could do decently well in a fight, so what gives? She quickly brushed aside her thoughts and walked up to Coco who had been uncharastically quiet this whole time. She, out of the entire team, was known for talking up a storm, the other members either couldn't talk or just chose to stay quiet.

"So if I may ask," Glynda whispered into Coco's ear, "which one took out the White Fang?"

Coco simply pointed to Travis whose eyes were currently closed and his case turned from an armrest to a footrest. "That's him."

Glynda stared in confusion at the Euphonium player then turned back to Coco' ear. "Are you sure? He looks a bit….weak."

"Ask Velvet, she saw the guy knock the gun away and swing a pipe faster than anybody she'd seen in her life and I also trust Velvet. The guy can even hotwire a car quickly. Oh just be careful when talking to him, his mouth tends to get a bit foul."

Between the mixture of being able to fight, the ability to hotwire, and his apparent foul mouth there was an apparent judgement applied to poor Travis. Glynda once again leaned into Coco to ask if her assumption was right. "Is he a criminal?"

"Oh god no," Coco laughed off almost having to wipe away a tear from Glynda absurd assertion, "the guy is sweet, and looks out for the other three."

"Do you think they're orphans?" Glynda kept questioning.

Coco hadn't thought of that and tilted her head in consideration. "Possibly, I never did hear them talk about their parents."

It was then at this point that one of them stepped in, this one being Brandon. "If you wish to know we can tell you."

This caught the academy professor off guard and she quickly turned from the huntress-in-training looking to the burlier one of the group. It was then when Travis opened his eyes and turned to Brandon giving his thoughts. "With all due respect Brandon I think it would be best if we could explain it all at once, the whole idea of having to talk to each of the higher up gets me rather annoyed. My apologies Miss….?"

"Goodwitch," she uttered. She was quite surprised on how Travis acted to her, the respect and calmness of his tone was not one expected from somebody who from Coco's words: 'tends to get a bit foul'.

Coco then returned the favor of talking into Glynda's ear. "Yeah FYI don't get used to that, wait till you seem get angry." This sent a bit of a worried chill down the spine of the academy teacher. How could someone's voice filled with modesty and a tone of respect turn to a fouled and disgusting vocabulary? _He couldn't be related to Miss Xiao Long could he._ Oh boy she had no clue.

It was a long trip, not the longest any of the occupants had done however. This was routine for the Team CFVY and the huntress but to the band kids this was like a trip they would take once a year. They had gone to Southern California to Washington State in a day, their backs still hurt when they think about it. Beacon Tower slowly came into view, the green lit tower standing above all the rest of the buildings. The fact that it basically had a moat was a little disconcerting to the band kids who found it a tad much, but hey when in Rome or whatever the people of Remnant had for Rome. while they peered out the windows of the Bullhead the V.T.O.L. aircraft began its descent onto the landing pad the four saw a man with white hair and a green suit, a bit tacky in their world but seeing as this world values color for some reason it was beginning to waver on the group. As dust kicked up from the landing aircraft Team CFVY, Glynda, and the band kids walked out, their belongings were taken away by some of the staff who had joined the man. Travis, Brandon, Reese, and Sam looked at the man who they assumed to be Ozpin with varying opinions. Reese saw him as a cold methodical type who he knew not to cross just by the way he took a sip of his coffee. Brandon saw the guy as a powerful person who had to have some answers. Travis was wary of this Ozpin, he saw the headmaster much like Reese, he decided it best not to cross him on his turf. Sam just saw Ozpin as a person because he was a tad bit jet lagged, but hey what can you do.

"Hello there," Ozpin greeted, "I am Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy. May I ask who you are?"

They were reluctant at first, but once Brandon gave a reassuring nod to the group. Ozpin took a note of that as he raised one of eyebrows and took a sip out of hsi mug. What took place was the usual greeting of "Reese", "Brandon", "Travis", "Sam". Ozpin then turned to face the large tower. "If you would please, follow me. We have much to discuss about." With that the group of four followed the green suit clad headmaster to the large tower.

Team RWBY were in their dorm when the sound of a Bullhead filled the campus, it was after classes so there was nothing to drown out the noise of the engines. Three of them, the heiress, the girl two years younger, and the blonde boxer peered out of the window. As a group of four males walked out escorted by Glynda Goodwitch and Team CFVY. It was Ruby who decided to speak first with the most obvious of questions.

"Who do you think they are?" The red huntress-in-training asked looking to both her sides of fellow roommates.

"I don't know," Weiss said, "I don't think I've seen them around before."

"Perhaps, they're third years?" Blake told the group before walking off and getting back to her book, "we don't usually see them around."

"Aw come on guys where your sense of imagination?" Yang cheekily asked the group, "Maybe they had to rescue Team CFVY."

Weiss gave a sigh that frequently took place whenever Yang or Ruby spoke before walking away going back to her studying. "Then why would Ms. Goodwitch be there?"

"Maybe she was accompanying them on the mission?" Ruby jutted in trying to get her two-cents in.

They saw the group talk to Ozpin and then walk with him towards his office on top of the tower. When they disappeared into the structure Yang and Ruby gave an exasperated sigh and turned back to what they were doing earlier: playing video games and eating cookies.

The group of four band students had a quiet and awkward ride in the elevator. Nobody said a word to lighten the mood during the ride. Even Glynda felt a bit awkward, Ozpin had a thing for silence but something about this just didn't gel right with her. When the doors opened a large circular room was all that was in front of them. A translucent desk, floors with gears beneath them, and incredibly comfy chairs were all the room had. Ozpin sat at the desk and propped his cane against the side of it and placed his mug on it too. Glynda walked to the side as if she were stenographer (the people who record everything said in a court case). The four pulled up chairs, all sat differently. Brandon sat like a normal human being, Reese placed his foot on his knee and leaned into the armrests, Sam sat forward resting his elbows on his knees, and Travis sat on one of his feet and slouched to the side with a slightly clenched face touching his mouth with the thumb on his cheek. The silence from the elevator ride continued carrying over the awkward feeling Glynda had experienced from earlier. Her face became more worried as the five entered into a staring contest of sorts with the other side. It was Travis who spoke first angling his fingers so his mouth was clear.

"Sooo how ya doin?" He jokingly asked the headmaster still with that deadpan stare.

Not sure if it was meant to lighten the mood but Ozpin sure thought so as he answered. "Not bad all things considered," he stopped to grab a pot and poured whatever liquid was in it into his cup, "but we are not here to talk about me, we are here to talk about how a bunch of people traversed universes."

At was at that moment that Glynda lost it. She bursted out laughing in an uncharacteristic fit while all five of the males stared at the laughing professor. Once she had calmed down she saw their faces and put her glasses back to her eyes after rubbing the tears out. "Wait," she spoke, "you're serious?"

"Unfortunately," Travis told her turning his body back to face the headmaster, "it's a relatively long story…." Over what seemed to be multiple but turned out to be a singular hour Travis retold the events that happened yesterday. The world they were all from, the crash, his side of the story when Velvet of Team CFVY found him, leading up to where he sat now. "And here I sit before you, that basically the jist of it." The next few minutes were spent on how the other three were found by Team CFVY who would later give a full report on the matter to see if their story checks out.

Glynda was still in disbelief, and because she happen to have a bit of stubbornness when it came to preposterous stories. "If you think we will believe such idiotic lies then you may as well-"

It was then that Travis let a little of his pent-up frustration. His eyes went from the calm and analytical usual Travis to the fire and brimstone that had barely showed itself on Remnant but had been known back home on campus. "Listen you damn broad! If you wanted idiotic lies then why don't you tell Ozpin here that I'm a criminal like you asked Coco a few hours ago in Bullhead! Oh man I can hotwire a car I must be a criminal then! Way to jump the logical fence." Travis turned himself away with that final mocking response, his head shaking in a small frustration while rolling his eyes at her.

 _He had been listening!?_ Glynda thought to herself. Still she wasn't too happy about being called a 'broad' by a guy not quite half her age. "You think you can talk down to me like that!" She yelled putting one foot forward and grabbing her riding crop trying to intimidate the young man but to avail as he simply was turned away from the woman. "Young man I have half a mind to-"

"Glynda!" Ozpin yelled catching both peeved individuals off guard ending the scuffle. Glynda soon went back to the side of Ozpin, "Mister Travis I would appreciate if you didn't berate my fellow associates.

Travis gave a quick retort his arms crossed going back to his deadpan stare, "You first."

It was then Brandon who interrupted the two trying to cool the room. "Professor Ozpin we know it seems farfetched but you gotta believe us. We have nothing else to go to."

Taking a sip from his cup in his calm, cool, and collected fashion he spoke. "Oh don't worry I believe you four." This was followed by Glynda, Travis, and the other three occupants to go "What!?". Ozpin then explained himself. "You four seem to pose no information about Remnant whatsoever. Coupled with the fact that I have never heard of the home you refer to or any other place you referred to, I am lead to believe you are telling the truth."

Travis' view of Ozpin changed after that, he had seen the headmaster use his deduction and logic to make an understanding that he had never thought of. He liked this and with a small smile he asked the magic question. "So Ozpin, what is our next move?"

He swiveled in his chair and walked out and gave a slight chuckle and turned to the window looking at the vista. "Your next move is going to be joining Beacon," with a certain emphasis on the 'your'.

Sam spoke for the first time in the whole conversation with a "Come again?"

Ozpin turned to the four band students with a smile picking up his mug stopping it before it got to his lips. "Well as of right now you can't return home and since I have been made aware you are not criminals I don't have the heart to throw you kids out just yet." The tone in Ozpin's voice sent shivers down the Saxophonist's spine when he said 'yet'. "So I'm going to offer you a place here at Beacon until we can find a way to take you home." He ended the sentence with a sip from his mug.

It was Travis who decided to point out a fact he found rather important. "I would like to point out that none of us can really fight here Ozpin we would be at a serious disadvantage. Plus we don't have weapons, our instruments don't magically transform into large gatling guns."

"Oh don't worry about that I will make arrangements for your team to have access to the weapons shop for the entire week. And to answer your early point I have also been informed that one of you have fought off the White Fang and from what my informant also told me is that you four have noticed changes in your physical abilities. You will be required to go to all classes except for the sparring classes where you will work on your weapons and in your free time I will expect you to be there as well."

The group could see Glynda making arrangements on her scroll tablet while Brandon and Travis slowly sank into their respective chairs. Travis gave the Trombonist a look of: ' _How did he hear that?'_. It was after that when Brandon noticed something that confused him. "What do you mean by team?"

"Stand up for a moment," the group complied pushing the chairs back and Ozpin walked up towards them and gave them a speech that almost seemed rehearsed but had the same remorse as an on the spot talk you would give your grieving daughter, "we train our huntresses and huntsman in teams of four so they can grow and learn about who they are, their semblance, and their aura."

"Yeah um another small issue," Travis interjected, "we don't have aura, remember we came from a world where that stuff doesn't exist."

"Ah yes," Ozpin said stepping forward to the four placing a finger on Travis's chest suddenly giving off a blue glue forming around his body then went down the line doing the same thing to the others, "Aura is the manifestation of our soul, it bears our burdens and shields our hearts. With practice an aura can be our shields. Everyone has one including wildlife."

"What about the damn grimm?" Travis asked, "Seems like it would make it awfully hard to kill a beast if it had one."

"Thankfully the Creatures of Grimm lack a soul, they are monstrosities bent on destroying mankind, we fight them to drive the darkness back," Ozpin finished his speech when Sam's aura glowed a certain tan color around his body. He then walked back to his desk and sat himself down looking at all four, "what are your full names?"

"Brandon Rainwater."

"Travis Basco."

"Jeffrey 'Reese' Martins."

"Samuel Perish."

"Well then," Ozpin said in a more regal announcing voice, "You four from this day will be known as Team BBRS (pronounced Brass, see what I did there). I look forward to see what you do during your time here at Beacon Academy. Glynda show them to their rooms."

They five walked out of the tower leaving the headmaster alone in his office. When he was certain they were all gone he began to message a certain bird-man. _You are not going to believe what just happened here today ~Ozpin._

The dorm room looked like every college dorm Team BBRS had seen in the past either from playing at colleges with the band or on personal excursions when deciding about which college to attend to, even though it didn't matter now. Glynda remained relatively silent outside of showing the major hallways, cafeteria, and training rooms. They arrived at their room to which was opened, their bags and instruments were lying in the middle of the floor a tad haphazardly.

"There are you rooms," the professor said coldly, "your first class begins at nine-thirty so I don't expect you to be late." She then began to leave the door almost in a hurry to get away from the four before Travis spoke.

"Miss Goodwitch," he said, his back turned to her, "I would like to apologize for my earlier outburst. I was tired, frustrated, and not thinking clearly." He then turned to face her as she was about to leave, her back was to him now, "I will not say this won't happen again because it definitely will, years of bad experiences have done this to me it's just who I am. I am incredibly sorry and I hope you can accept my present and future apologies."

She was a little bit moved by this, it was sincere, honest even if it did mean she would be called a 'broad' again or worse, and wasn't forced. She turned to the blonde haired member of the newly formed team with a small smile. "Thank you Mr. Basco," she said putting a relieved look on Travis' face, "however I still expect you to show up on time." She then left and closed the door leaving the four members of Team BBRS to themselves.

"Well that could've been worse…." Travis told the group aloud.

Team RWBY were about to go to bed as they heard the voice of Ms. Goodwitch in the halls followed by four sets of footsteps. Yang pressed the side of her face up against the door trying to listen and soon Ruby followed. For a while the room went silent with the other two didn't really care. Then they heard a male voice give some sort of apology. They could only pick out certain words and phrases from Travis' muffled apology to Miss Goodwitch. The door next door slammed quietly and the quick footsteps of Miss Goodwitch walked down the hall. While Ruby went back to bed Yang still having a mischievous smile on her face opened the door and pressed her ear up next to their new neighbors door.

"Yang," Ruby called out, "what are you doing?"

Yang peered her head back into the doorway of Team RWBY's room. "These four obviously did something bad to grind Miss Goodwitch's gears and I want to find out what." She then pressed her ear back to Team BBRS's door listening to the ensuing conversation.

"You have had worse I will say that Travis," said the lower monotone voice of Reese said.

"Oh god I still remember the time I told our band teacher to go have sex with his wife because he was being a pain in ass," Travis chuckled.

"Oh god! I still can see how red his face was," Brandon joined adding more laughter, "you had detention for a solid two weeks."

"How about the time he told one of the janitors that he should let the mop use him to clean the floors cause of how bad a job he was doing," Sam reminisced followed by more laughter.

Yang peered back into Team RWBY's room. "Apparently one of their guys is a smart-alec. He told one of his teachers to go have sex and a janitor to be the mop."

This prompted Ruby and Weiss, Blake was being Blake and not giving a damn, to go over to the door and press their ears up to the door. They listened to the continuing conversation. "In all seriousness though," Brandon said to the Euphonium player, "you probably shouldn't have done that. We're new here and calling that woman a whore was not the best first impression to give."

"I did not strictly call her a whore," Travis said jokingly, "I called her a broad there is a difference."

"Not much of one," Reese's low voice said.

From outside the door and magic question caught the attention of all eight individuals coming from Weiss. "Who they call a whore?" She said it rather loudly causing the following answer.

"Glynda Goodwitch!" The thing was all four of Team BBRS had answered thinking it was one of their own who had asked the stupid question. They all looked at one another in confusion until they all looked simultaneously towards the door. Travis, being the closet walking silently towards the door and slowly turned the knob. Yang was the only one to knob turning and the other two trapped her with their combined weight. A collective _Oh, crap_ was thought by the three girls when the door opened and they all fell into the Team BBRS doorway. Travis looked at the three girls in their pajamas and put his hands on his hips. "Well what do we have here?" He asked the group of three with that one of voice Travis was known for.

"Umm," Yang fumbled through her mind trying to think of a response but coming to only one, "wassup?"

Travis didn't move his body, instead he raised a single eyebrow at the girls. "You have exactly five point seven seconds to get off our floor and begin to explain yourself before I have me and Brandon empty our spit valves on you."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Sam suddenly interjected waving his hands as each 'whoa' got shorter, "let's try not to piss anybody else off before we start classes." He reached down and helped Weiss up followed by Brandon helping the two sisters up. "Now let's do this in a civil manner," he said turning to Travis at the word 'civil', "who are you three."

Yang being the outgoing person as she always is responded first with a slap to the back of Samuel. "The name's Yang Xiao Long, but Yang does just fine."

"Weiss."

"I'm Ruby, and you can't see the fourth member but Blake is in our room. Together we form Team RWBY," she announced triumphantly. All at once the four members of Team BBRS were confused. Travis raised a finger, Reese's head was angled upward in thought, Brandon raised an eyebrow at this, and Sam eyes got wide just trying to figure out what was wrong. "And yes before you ask it does get confusing." This was followed by a light bulb moment as they all went 'Ahh'.

"You don't seem as older as your other teammates," Travis noticed.

"Well that's because I'm two years younger than everybody," the red girl grinned with a bit of pride.

"Oh is that right," Trav said in his devilish tone looking at Sam, "looks like you have someone in common with you Samuel."

Sam looked at Travis with a look that said quite elegantly: _You motherf*****r,_ as Travis smiled with one of the biggest smiles he had in a long time. The brown haired Saxophonist then nervously turned to Ruby's face who was in awe. "No way!" She yelled at a volume not appropriate for the hour it currently was, "You're two years younger too! You must be CRAZY good! We gotta fight sometime!" This was followed by a nervous laugh from Sam who turned back to Travis with a look of fear and horror.

Travis decided to save him for an untimely demise. "We would love to fight you and your team Ruby but our weapons were destroyed in….a catastrophic incident," Travis said changing his tone to a more calm and refined voice, "we will have to remake them which will take us about a week."

Yang then pointed to their instrument cases with curiosity. "So what are those then?"

The four looked at the case and almost as if they thought as one they pushed them to the side, under their beds, and just as far from them as possible. "Those are…." Travis said trying to think of a good excuse, "hobbies. Now if you excuse us we have to get some sleep, we have classes to get to tomorrow and we cannot learn if we talk all night."

Almost pushing the three out when Travis closed the door his face relaxed from the smile he had on for several minutes and sighed. He then followed that up. "That was close."

"Tell me about it," Reese said, speaking for the first time since the three girls RWBY entered.

What the members of Team BBRS didn't know was that Blake Belladonna was listening, she had been listening the whole time, while the other three still talked about the odd Team BBRS.

"Why don't you think they wanted to show us what was in the cases. It looked cool," Yang said laying herself sideways on her precarious bunk bed.

"I don't know but they seem a little odd," Weiss said going back to bed.

"Aw who really cares we can ask them more tomorrow during class," Ruby said in her cheerful usual way.

From their side of the wall Blake picked up a few lines from the others with her faunas hearing from the cat ears hiding in her black bow.

"They cannot know," one of them said.

"I think it would be best if we could avoid other people knowing about the truth," another said.

"It is logical to think that they never believe us," said a third, this one must have been Travis since he did a majority of the talking, his voice became more recognizable.

"Listen," the final and fourth member told the other three, "we can't do anything till we make our weapons over the week and survive the classes, after that we can find a way out of here. Sound good?"

Followed by three simultaneous 'Yeahs' the sound of lights clicking and bodies hitting the bed were the last thing the cat faunas heard from Team BBRS. _Well that's interesting,_ she thought closing her book with a single hand.

 **Whoo that was….interesting. Hey thanks for making it this far I personally want to thank you for reading. Any and all constructive critique is much obliged. I don't if I have mentioned this but as of right now this story is taking place during the first semester (a.k.a. Vol. 1) we are past The Forever Fall episodes but we have not made it to the The Stray episodes yet. Anyways see you later suckers.**


	3. Chapter 3: Grit, Spit, and a Whole Lot

**Author's note: Sup suckers it's the author writing to you. Another chapter being written on pain meds and the feeling of getting my school assignments being done in a day before it comes back. This will probably the last chapter written and posted in this short amount of time. Plus scholarships! I hate doing those so much but they're so damn vital. If you're anyone who is going into college, is currently in college, or have graduated college you know what I'm talking about unless you were fortunate enough to either pay for college or have it payed for you. Anyways with my ramblings over let's get this crap started!**

Chapter 3: Grit, Spit, and a Whole Lot of Duct Tape. And Pain, there will be Pain.

Sam's head shot up from the desk in the back of a classroom. He instinctively looked to the clock and they had fifteen minutes left in class. The issue was he looked back two minutes ago thinking and hour must have gone by. But when Professor Port starts one of his supposed 'Tales of Glory' the time seemed to drip like really large grains of sand in a very tiny hourglass. Turning his head to survey the class he saw that he wasn't alone. Multiple heads were on the table of the various desk. How had the teacher not noticed this? Probably because he was so focused on remembering the events. Even the members of Team BBRS seemed disinterested. Brandon's eyes nearly slipped back into his skull and he shook his head trying to stay awake. Reese's head, being propped up by his hand, struggled to stay awake before closing his eyes. Travis was the only really up and awake, and he was busy writing notes into a notebook at a rapid pace. He wasn't writing notes on Professor Port's 'enthralling' tale, no, he was writing what was behind the professor. Detailed drawings of Grimm were behind the teacher and Travis focused on that only, he couldn't give a damn about the story. Pulling himself closer to the second 'B' of Team BBRS, Sam looked at how Travis was faring on the notes. It was messy, almost unreadable, and clustered, but it was thorough with more information than any native member of this world would even bother taking notes on. Something in Sam's pocket buzzed that caught his attention away from the scribbling writer. Sam reached into his uniform pocket to pull out the device they called a 'Scroll', they were given these at the beginning of the day by Ozpin to help 'acclimatize' them to Remnant. In it was a message from Brandon across the table. _Ask Travis what we'll need for weapons. Him and Reese will be in charge of that.~Brandon._ They decided to put those two in charge for two major reasons. One: They worked well with each other able to bounce off differing ideas. Two: The two had met in a metal shop class when Travis was one of the advanced students. Sam leaned into Travis who attention was still on his notes until Sam prodded the side of his arm.

"Yo," Sam whispered not trying to get caught by the teacher in case something happened, "what's the plan for the weapons."

Either Travis was too focused on his notes or he just ignored Sam as Travis just kept scribbling incoherently. Sam was about to ask again before Travis raised his index finger, put down his pencil for the first time since class began, and pulled out his scroll to message Sam. Travis shared the same fear of being called out in Port's class. _I'm going to need a few books. Reese will help me find those in the Library. All I need is suggestions from the two of you on what you want, Reese is refusing to tell me his idea because he wants to surprise us. Outside of that not much, enjoy the sights, make some friends, find a burger joint, I don't know live life. ~Travis._ Travis then went back to jotting down some more notes. Sam nodded to the message and his head shifted to Professor Port who was seeming to to come to the climatic end. "And then just as the Nevermore was about to swallow me whole I-" The professor was caught off guard by the bell sounded, relieving everybody with the room seeming to deflate, "Oh I must have timed that wrong. Well no worry, the exciting conclusion will happen after the lesson tomorrow."

Nobody directly insulted the teacher but many unkind words were thought when he said 'tomorrow'. Team BBRS had been sitting in the very back in tiered classroom. They got the best view from up top and it allowed them to stay away from the students staring at them. In their earlier classes they were introduced and sat down without much talk, during lunch they sat by themselves, they barely talked to anyone already and were regarded as 'not to be messed with' as three of them usually carried deadpan stares. It wasn't until the sparring class was when they showed some movement, or life for that matter. Because their 'weapons' were destroyed they had to watch, they could have spent their time in the forge on campus but decided to watch how these students fight. They all found the experience to be….enlightening. Other than that though the whole school found Team BBRS to be incredibly mysterious. One member wrote down notes at such a rapid pace he didn't notice he had caused scorch marks on one of Oobleck's desk until he removed the paper. One had been asleep for most of the classes bored out of his skull or he just stared quietly. The larger one acted like a general all around student talking a bit but not a whole lot. Then there was Sam who they all decided to be the talkative one in the group, he answered a majority of the question hurled at the team and did his best to dodge the question that could have blown their 'cover' so to speak. They knew nobody would believe their story of being from an alternate world that didn't have the Grimm, huntsmen and huntresses, or aura so they thought it would be best to keep a lid on it. Perhaps if they let it slip out would be the only time they would have to tell the truth. The four new students walked back to their dorm room in a row walking in their different manners, Travis was finishing up some notes still. They entered the room and the three others crashed onto their beds while the note taker sat in a desk chair and propped his feet on the desk setting down his notebook, with nearly all the pages filled in.

"Ow," Travis said first holding his wrist rotating it slowly his bones cracking nonstop, "if I don't get carpal tunnel then I will fall in love with this aura crap."

Reese got his body off the bed and sat upright and put his hat back on his head. "What the hell were you even writing in that thing?" You nearly filled it up and that's the first I've seen you put it down."

"Ah yes," Travis said grabbing the notebook, "it's everything from today in class, notes on the kids who sparred today, and some notes I took on the culture around the school."

"I don't remember you being the note taking type," Brandon told him standing up.

"I'm not," Travis corrected, "why do you think my hand is killing me."

"Hmm," Brandon grunted walking over to him, "can I take a look?"

"Good luck, you know how bad my penmanship is."

He wasn't wrong, outside of a few diagrams, you could barely make anything out. Squinting, Brandon could make out few words that were simple and the letter 'Z' because of how Trav wrote it. He handed it back to him and saw back down rubbing the scribbles out of his eyes and mind. "So what now?" Brandon addressed the group.

"Well me and Travis should get working on the weapons," Reese suggested talking for the first time since lunch earlier.

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea," Travis agreed, "do you two have any preferences, ideas, umm likes, dislikes. I mean Reese is keeping his a secret because he's being an ass but, he knows how to use the tools so he gets to be an ass. You two, though, have to tell us so we can make'em. Unless you want a crash course in 'Weaponsmithing'"

Sam paused and thought about it hard until reaching a conclusion. "I would like swords. Emphasis on the '-orwds," Sam told him trying to convey that he wanted at least two blades.

Trav just looked at the younger student and nearly slapped him with the notebook. "Oh swords! Why didn't I think of that!? Why am I even doing this?! 'Put swords in it' Everything on this whole damn planet has a sword coming out of some kind of orifice. Hey why don't we put a sword on your Sax that seems easy enough?!" Sam contemplated that last thought before Travis stopped him, "Don't you even think about that!" Sam looked a bit disappointed but the other two couldn't help but chuckle at Travis' sudden outburst. "Brandon what about you?" Travis turned to him hoping for a better answer instead of 'swords'

He didn't get to answer as the sound of abrupt knocking scared all four of them. Trav looked toward the other three worried, they all shrugged and Travis opened the door. Travis done messed up. The group of three girls from last night plus the missing member barged through the door nearly knocking the Euphonium player over if he didn't move to the side. _Son of a bitch!_ He yelled in his head trying not to deal with another incident like the one that transpired yesterday with Miss Goodwitch.

The four girls of Team RWBY stood in the bland, undecorated, beige to the beiged degree room of Team BBRS. They looked a bit disappointed, here was the most mysterious team and from what they could find there were no secrets misplaced, nothing that said a thing about their personalities, not even a poster of a music group or a cat calendar.

"Aww," Yang spoke looking in the room, "you guys must be boring." She then looked to the three other girls with a big grin on her face, "We're going to have to change that girls."

"It would probably be best if you didn't," came the refined voice Travis used around them last night.

"Hey Stuck Up," Yang motioned to Travis, "cut the act we heard you going off on poor little Sam over here."

"Well fine if you want to play that way," Travis retorted turning away and putting his focus back on the notebook filled to the brim with his awful penmanship.

"Whatcha got there?" The innocent voice of the team leader rang out pointing back to Travis.

"Oh just some notes I took, I doubt they'll do me any good," Travis joked, lying through his teeth to get them off his case.

"Oh maybe we can compare notes sometimes," Weiss had said. She had taken a notice of Travis' note taking skill in many of their shared classes. She hoped he would agree and she would get a perfect score on the upcoming exam in Oobleck's class.

"Sure if you can read chicken scratch," Brandon casually told the girls.

"What does that mean?" The heiress asked turning to Brandon.

Brandon looked at the white haired girl with a smirk and motioned his hand to the notebook. "Travis has had notoriously bad handwriting for as long as I have known him. You could almost call it a second language"

It was the reclusive Blake who asked the natural question. "How long have you known Travis?"

The two stared back at each other wide eyes, not out of fear but they honestly couldn't recall. Brandon could see Travis trying to remember as his eyes nearly went behind his skull before Brandon remembered. "Eight years. That sounds about right."

This prompted the four girls to jump in surprise. It wasn't impossible for childhood friends to be on the same team, look at Ren and Nora, but it was still rather uncommon to hear. "You guys have known each other for eight years?" Blake asked a little skeptical.

"Yeah eight years now that I think about it," Travis confirmed nodding his head.

"Eight **long** years at that too," Brandon corrected Travis and himself.

"Yeah screw you too buddy," Travis quickly told Brandon in response to the diss.

The four girls seemed to believe the two after the playful banter from the two members of Team BBRS. Yang then turned to the whole group and gave a suggestion. "You guys want to head down to the training room?"

Weiss then interjected well more like whined at the blonde brawler. "Yang we can't always keep training."

"I must agree with Weiss on this one," Travis said to the blonde turning his body slightly in the chair he was still sitting in.

"Oh why is that are you scared?" Yang mocked the mixed brown and blonde member of the team.

"No not really Miss Xiao Long its just that me and Reese need to start remaking our weapons that were lost, we only have a week before Ozpin's forcing us onto the sparring floor and I would rather have my weapon then fight bare handed," Travis had gone back to his refined, calm voice.

"Oh don't kid you," she spoke in a flirty tone, "and call me Yang."

"I'm afraid I can't right now," Travis said standing up, "I only use first names with people who I respect."

The room went silent with Reese being the only person making noise and he was going 'oooh' prompting Yang to turn to towards poor Reese silencing him in an instant. The other members of Team RWBY just gawked at Travis after his comment. Was he crazy? Suicidal? In love with Yang? They didn't know, they were at a loss of words. Ruby's jaw nearly hit the floor while Blake slowly back away and Weiss tried to hide behind Ruby. Yang herself was a little stunned by this. Here was this kid who had just shown up, not only acts smug and stuck up, but also insults her in a quippy fashion that even she had to admit was pretty good. Who did he think he was? She knew though that once she beat his face the day he steps into the training area he would shut his yap.

"Come on girls we don't need these losers, we can have fun by ourselves," Yang said putting her hands behind her head.

"Wait," Travis said prompting Yang to turn. _An apology maybe?_ She thought. "Take Brandon and Sam with you. Give them an in-depth tour and they can answer some of your questions."

"Umm Travis?" Brandon asked, "What are you doing?"

Travis looked at Brandon in a pseudo-confused look and cocked his head at an angle. "Oh I'm sorry if you're disinterested then you can join me and Reese in the forge. I'll be sure to tell you when the ammo might explode," Travis had a devilish grin on his face that could equal the one Yang gets from time to time.

With his two teammate both giving him the classic _you motherf*****r_ look, Yang cheerfully grabbed the two other members of Team BRRS. "Sound great to me, come on girls let's give them the grand tour!" Slowly the three other girls walked out still confused about the events that transpired a few seconds ago. When Travis and Reese were alone they made their way to the library.

The halls of the dorms were being walked by two members of Team BBRS and Team RWBY. Yang being the pushy, outgoing person she is linked arms with two boys to see how they would react. "So," she said, "what's with Stuck-up?"

"Who Travis?" Brandon asked, "Aw don't get concerned wit him he's just a bit….um-"

Multiple answers ensued from the four girls of Team RWBY. Weiss, the heiress: "Smug?", Blake: "Crazy?", Ruby: "Suicidal?", then came Yang's which was almost perfect: "A jerk?"

Brandon almost went with Yang's but it didn't quite fit. "I would say Travis has the perfect term for this. He is an 'Equal Opportunity Jerk'."

They all stared, except for Sam, at Brandon. "He came up with that?" Weiss asked.

Brandon nodded and they continued walking down the hall. "Travis is very….aware of everything around him, it's what makes the guy a bit scary at times. It does help he's very adept to everything."

"What do you mean by 'adept'?" The red reaper asked almost a little nervous for the answer.

"I remember two years ago he had been sick for about two weeks straight and the day he got back he had a math test the very next day. So covering two weeks of math in a day is impossible, even for him, so he..." Brandon paused to take a sigh at about what he was about to say, "he typed the majority of the notes into his calculator. He even had examples and correct punctuation if I recall. That's the stuff I mean his ability to overcome a lot in a short time even at the expense of him crashing later on."

"Well fine then I change my answer." Yang told him, "I'm going to say: Complex."

"That sounds about right," Sam spoke up.

"Still a jerk though."

"You can't let that get to you," Brandon told the blonde, "Travis may be a little rude at times, but he can be incredibly nice and sweet if you let him."

"Didn't he call Miss Goodwitch a broad though?" Weiss pointed out prompting Brandon to sigh with a nod.

"Yeah, not one of his greatest moments I will admit, but it didn't help that she started it by accusing us of being criminals. Travis usually acts in retaliation. You show him respect he'll give you respect."

"So why did he insult me then? I hadn't done anything wrong to him." Yang asked letting go of their linked arms placing her hands on her hips.

"We did listen in on their conversation last night Yang," Ruby pointed out.

"And you basically barged into our room before any of us could unwind from our hectic first day," Brandon added, "not exactly the best way to welcome someone if you ask."

Yang being stubborn and outgoing still had trouble seeing this and simply just shrugged it off. Then a great idea hit her noggin. "Hey I know what we should do! We should introduce them to JNPR!" Without waiting Yang relinked their arms and without hesitation they walked back to Team JNPR's room. Only they wouldn't find the entirety of JNPR in the room, not at all. The 'P' was in the library.

Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl, the champion of many tournaments in Mistral, was walking down looking at the bookshelves of the library after school. It was a time to clear her head from all the things that taxed the mind: Nora, classes, Carding being an idiot, Nora. All of them took a toll even on her. So what was the best relief for a girl with her interest read? Weapon Books obviously! Books on the history of weaponry, the mechanics, the latest and greatest, it didn't matter as long as it had a weapon on it she didn't care. The scarlet haired girl walked over to the section that housed a majority of the weaponry books. She was reading on repairs, and the best methods to do so. Yes it is quite boring from an objective standpoint but she found it fascinating. Placing her finger on the row of books she searched for the one she wanted, but it was gone. _Oh, well_ , she thought, _I'll just find another one._ There weren't any left, they were all gone, all the weaponry books were gone. So one of two things happened: either a personal crusade happened burning all weaponry books because they were heresy or everybody needed a book for some odd reason. Pyrrha was about to step out of the aisle way of the bookshelf until she ran into the shoulder of someone she didn't recognized, knocking them over.

Out of reaction she offered a hand to the man. "I'm sorry," she told the kid.

"Thanks," he replied taking her hand lifting him up.

She noticed that besides he had on a hat with an odd design that she had never seen before but that five books laid on the ground in a disheveled manner. When she bent down to help pick them up she noticed they were all books on weapons including the one she had been reading. "What do you need all these books for?" She asked the kid.

"We're rebuilding our weapons," he said in a low, flat, monotone voice.

"You're 'rebuilding' your weapons?" She asked a little puzzled by the statement.

"Yeah," he simply said, "is there an issue with that?"

"Oh, no it's just that the forge is usually used for repairs and not building weapons."

"Well when they all went in an explosion you can't really repair those," his tone of voice shifted to where it wasn't so flat when he joked giving him a bit more personality.

"They all were destroyed?"

"Yep our whole team," he then snapped his fingers, "*snap* just like that."

Pyrrha felt awful. Their whole team had lost their weapons. The one thing that can separate the difference between life and death, and they had to leave them behind. She had to do something. "May I accompany you?" She asked.

"Oh no I wouldn't want to be burden to you," he told her struggling to hold the five heavy books in his arm.

The red haired spartan took two of them easing the load. "If you want these books back then you'll have to take me with you."

The man sighed and looked at her. "Fine come if you want, just be prepared for the other guy there. He's a bit….you'll see when we get there."

"Okay fine then," she said and the two began to walk out of the library, "what's your name?"

"Reese," he simply replied kicking open a door before Pyrrha got it for him, "You?"

She was a bt shocked by the question. How did this guy not know her? Clearly they knew what they were doing if they were creating their weapons so they weren't born yesterday. She shrugged off her thought then answered. "Pyrrha, Pyrrha Nikos."

"Well nice to meet you Pyrrha."

"And you too Reese."

The metal shop was a thing of beauty to anyone who knew what anything that filled it was. Lathes, mills, grinders, vertical and horizontal chop saws, anything you could think of. To Travis it was a godsend. He could work in a familiar environment which was seldom in this world. The tools all operated the same, sounded the same, and broke the same. The only change was the project. Reese and Pyrrha were just about to reach the door to the forge.

"So what exactly so I be looking out for when I see your friend?" she asked Reese about to open the door.

"Umm," he began, "well-"

 _ ***BOOM***_

Their conversation was cut short by the large concussive blast followed by a bright flash inside the forge's rooms. The two looked to each other and with Pyrrha swinging the door wide open followed by Reese running behind the girl. The metalshop was a mess, not how Reese remembered leaving it, the blast had sent tools, material, and Travis flying. Placing his hand on a workbench from beneath the table he lifted himself up not noticing the two. Massaging the top of his head he groaned and stood back up holding a button on connected to a long wire. "Oh god," he mumbled to himself walking towards a room behind him, "too much Dust that time."

"Having fun Travis?!" Reese yelled scaring the bejeebies out of the Euphonium player.

"Oh sweet baby jesus Reese you nearly gave me a heart attack!" He yelled then noticing the red haired woman standing next to him, "Reese," his tone and face going deadpan, "who is this?"

"Oh this is-" Reese started.

"My name is Pyrrha Nikos," Pyrrha announced with a small bow.

"Oh well nice to meet you Pyrrha, the name's Travis," Travis said going over a device inside a large metal room pointed at a metal sheet.

"What are doing now?" Reese asked placing the books on a nearby table.

"Well I was reading a book talking about manipulating dust in a way to get a close relative of particle beams so I got an idea. You know how Sam wanted two swords this time around?" He paused for Reese to nod, Pyrrha had a confused and slightly concerned look on his face, "So I got to thinking what if we mixed these two ideas together," Travis then grabbed a white mechanical object from the back room. It primarily was round except for two prongs in the middle of the barrel that were pointed, "so what I did was devised a prototype for a Railgun, Particle Beam Gun, Sword combo-hybrid-thingy to test the idea. All things considered it will work, I'll have to find a way to fix the knockback issue but hey it looks like it's an easy fix."

Pyrrha was impressed to no bound. Here was this kid the same age as her able to figure something so complex and make a working prototype. Sure he seemed a bit off and probably insane but his brain must have been something else. There were multiple books stacked around the shop, on top of mills, and sprawled on tables. They went over topics such as proficient welding techniques, effective casting methods, how to embed Dust into your weapon, even aerodynamics of the blade which apparently needed a one hundred and fifty page manual on the subject. On the table laid a basic greatsword done in a classic medieval fashion, it looked basic at best with no real interesting marks or details. "What's this for?" Pyrrha asked picking up the sword.

"Oh that?" Travis turned to the sword raising his eyebrows, "That's for casting purposes. Oh that reminds me Reese, I need to message Brandon soon we'll see how he likes the design plus the idea you came up with earlier. I really think he'll like it."

"Ok, sounds good," Reese said beginning to walk to a tarped off section, "you didn't look at my stuff right?"

Trav gave an exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes as his attention turned back to the hybrid weapon. "No Reese I didn't touch your 'super secret' project. Even if I had spare time I need to get my weapon."

Reese walked beneath the tarp and he disappeared the large blue mass which soon glowed with the silhouette of Reese welding something. Pyrrha felt a little awkward just standing past the doorway till Travis' head shot up noticing she was still there. "Oh you're still here."

"Um do I need to leave?" Pyrrha asked not wanting to interfere with their work.

"Oh no, not at all, it's nice to have somebody to bounce ideas off of," Travis told the girl walking over to the table away from the destructive device, "please take a seat." Pyrrha flattened the skirt of her uniform on a stool while Travis brought over a staff like object with wires and all the internal, mechanical parts showing. Think of it like looking at the skeleton of a weapon. "So," he said pointing near the bottom of the staff to rectangular objects labeled with a lightning bolt and a flame on the sides, "I need these two Dust cartridges to transfer to here," he explained running his fingers along wires, "but it's not doing so. Do you know what it might be?"

Let's get this out of the way. Before Pyrrha could give him an answer she stared at the kid. How did he- when did he- who was this guy? She had to ask the burning question. "Where did you learn all this stuff?" She asked in amazement.

Travis was quite surprised by the question. So surprised he couldn't think of a lie fast enough that made sense. So he chose to say some of the truth. "I have dabbled in robotics which required me to learn wiring, programming to a degree, manufacturing, and few other tasks." He wasn't really lying he had been on the robotics team back in highschool so he didn't feel too bad about it and it was still logical in this world.

However Travis couldn't prepare for the next question. "Aren't you a little young for that sort of stuff."

 _Was that a compliment on my looks? I don't honestly know_ , Travis thought immediately his mind began scrambling for a good response before it came. "May I point out Miss Ruby Rose carries a sniper rifle that switches into a scythe, logic went out the window a long time ago."

It was a bit of a cop out the spartan thought but yeah looking at it from a certain angle you could say so. She smiled and looked at the staff trying to find a problem with the staff. She noticed an small issue in a limiter that counteracted the Dust cartridges in this case. "There," she pointed, "that limiter is swallowing all of the Dust and expelling it out. If you lower the amount it supposed to limit you'll be fine."

"Huh," Travis said astounded he picked up a book talking about Dust and began to read it. Then he flipped it upside down, then turned it ninety degrees, then shifted his head the opposite direction making Pyrrha question the boy, "I did not see that." He picked up a screwdriver and slowly adjusted the limiter. He placed the screwdriver down and pressed a switch picking up the end of the weapon and watched as the tip of it began to glow a bright mellow orange. "Excellent, thank you Pyrrha."

"Happy to help." She cheerfully told the kid.

"Did you figure it out!?" Reese yelled from behind the tarp.

"Yeah it was the limiter!"

"I told you that two hours ago!"

"Yeah but I trust her opinion more than your's at the moment!"

"And why is that!?"

"Because you won't let me see whatever the hell you're working on ya jerk!"

Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh at the exchange between the two. She looked back at Travis who was shaking his head giving her a: _this guy_ look. It was then that Team RWBY, the other two members of Team BBRS, and the members of Team JNPR all followed by Miss Goodwitch and Ozpin all stepped into the forge room. Everybody but Ozpin had concerned look on their faces, well Glynda's might be out of exasperation and anger, more or less. She pinched her nose and shook her head when Travis waved at her with a big grin.

"What was that explosion a few minutes ago?" She asked, Reese had now stepped out from the top to see what all the hubbub was about.

"Oh that was just the knockback from Sam's prototype Particle-Railgun-hybrid thingie," Travis fumbled trying to explain the weapon that laid in the back.

Glynda couldn't deal with him for a second day in a row especially when it was him trying to explain a weapon. It was Ruby who broke the silence. "You made a what!?" She asked joyfully, she always loved seeing different and cool weapons.

Travis just chuckled and stood up dusting himself off. "Sam, Ruby do you want to take a look?"

Ruby couldn't run faster than she wanted, even with her semblance, as Sam casually walked over to the backroom with Travis. The three entered the room with the weapon on a stand aimed at a metal wall, a metal wall with a large black scorch mark in the middle. Sam looked at both the weapon and then the wall, the weapon and then the wall again noticing a key issue. "Um are you sure this is safe?" Sam asked looking at Travis just to make sure he wasn't insane.

"As of right now, no, but for a day's work I'd say I did pretty well. Your weapon will take the longest so I'm happy with the progress me and Reese have made," Travis paused and saw Ruby about to touch the firing button, "Ruby don't touch that!"

Too late.

 _ ***BOOM***_

The whole room shook as the hybrid weapon blasted a shot of energy. Travis being more prepared this time was able to grab Sam and Ruby pinning them to the ground. Glynda, the rest of Team RWBY, and Brandon ran into the now cramped room. "What are you doing in here!?" Glynda yelled, her face was as red as Ruby's cape.

Travis stood the younger two up and gave Ruby a look, not going to say what look but use your imagination. "Somebody had to press the fire button."

All Ruby could do was scratch the back of her head and nervously laugh. It was Yang who then commented. "Well that's our leader."

"If that's your leader I hate to see what the rest of you are like," Travis retorted pissing off Yang once again.

"Do you wanna go you little punk?!" Yang asked, her eyes going from those calming lilacs to a ferocious red. She was growing tired of Travis' constant jabs and insults.

Travis took note of her sudden change in eye color, _quite odd_. "No Miss Xiao Long this is not the appropriate place for a fight. Say the battlefield would be better suited for that." He then turned to Glynda, " Miss Goodwitch, if you could, make sure that Yang and I are the first to spar at the end of the week when our team is due to be there."

"Um sure I can arrange that," the professor said making notes on her tablet.

Team RWBY and Glynda walked out leaving Ozpin, Sam, and Brandon in the room with Travis. "Do you have something against Miss Xiao Long Travis?" Ozpin asked taking a sip from his mug.

"No not really," Travis smiled, "I just find pissing her off to be so rewarding."

"Be careful who you annoy, she is quite the fighter."

"Yeah I noticed when they were training earlier today, she packs a punch."

"You be careful, I may have granted asylum to you and your friends but I will not protect you if something were to….happen."

"Oh when you say it like that."

Ozpin then walked out leaving the members of Team BBRS alone in the metalshop. Brandon shook his head and looked to Travis. "Can you not insult somebody for a single day?" He asked.

Travis considered the question carefully but with a smug grin he replied. "Nope."

Brandon sighed again this time you could tell he was a little spent. "Can you show me what you two came up with?"

"Oh yeah man of course, follow me," Travis motioned and Brandon followed him leaving Sam to the hybrid cannon. Travis leaned his head back in noticing that Sam was still looking at the gun. "Oh and Sam," he said catching the Saxophonist by surprise, "don't press that button." Travis then walked out of the room without waiting for a response leaving Sam alone again.

Brandon looked at the basic sword on the table, it was clearly inspired by the one Yatsuhashi had wielded. While it was more medieval in nature and more traditional than green giant of Team CFVY. The blade had two grips on it. The main one hilt being larger and separated by a rounded cross guard. The second being shorter as it was meant for one hand for precision strikes when swinging the large weapon. In total the sword was about five feet long (or 1.524 meters for the rest of the world) .The pommel was rounded with a section cut into it being blank which prompted a question. "What's this for?" He asked pointing to the blank pommel.

Travis took a good look at it and handed him a few tools. "Well this world seems to take their individuality self expression quite seriously. They all have their unique emblems on their person whether it is their weapon or a piece of apparel." Travis was beginning to sound like the guy from the James Bond movies who supplied Mr. Bond with new tech. "I thought it would be kind to let you design your symbol. Makes us look more like superheroes if you ask me."

It was true they did feel a little odd being protectors, if anything, when they were back on earth multiple bets were being taken on Travis becoming a supervillain after he graduated. He took a hold of the tools off that were offered by Travis and began to slowly and fearfully began to etch designs, taking a piece of paper to draw out some ideas. Travis left Brandon to his own devices, walking away to go check on Sam. The Saxophonist was still entranced by the small cannon that had created the large blast. Travis then tapped his shoulder making him jump several inches in the air making Travis flinch.

"Don't do that!" Sam yelled.

"Hey get used to sort of stuff you're going to have an arm cannon that does that," Travis replied pointing at the scorch mark on the wall.

"Yeah that thing will blow my arm if I fire it," Sam told Travis trying to convey a good point.

"Yeah," Trav said slowly, "we'll be fixing that for sure."

"I will ask you this though. Where are the swords?"

Travis gave a slight laugh as he walked over to the two prongs of the railgun. Flipping a switch on the back Sam nearly back away fearing it would fire. But it didn't instead the two prongs disconnected from the barrel revealing themselves to be two short swords, you could almost say they were long daggers. "Happy?" Travis asked placing the two blades in Sam's palms.

The blades felt comfortable, as comfortable as one could be holding weapons for what was probably the first time, they had equal distribution of weight, they flipped easy in his hand, and they looked cool the most important part of any weapon. Something bugged Sam still, not an issue about the swords, but Travis wasn't this smart. Sure he already had figured out how to manipulate Dust in multiple variations but even their home world had just started on this kind of technology. "Travis," Sam said, "would you kindly explain to me how you did this? I know you just didn't come up with a railgun by accident. So how'd you do it?"

Trav's eyes narrowed and he frowned a bit. After deciding not to lie to the only people he had left he walked to a closed drawer and pulled out multiple pages of blueprints. Upon inspection you could tell the blueprints drew up a different, but almost, identical design of the railgun that Travis came up with. "The first night we were here and everybody was asleep," Travis told Sam, "I began rummaging through the vehicle I stole. In a closed compartment I found these blueprints. These are for a similar design but on a much larger scale. If the White Fang were able to build on of these who knows what they could do," Travis stopped his voice had gone incredibly serious, a very rare occurrence for the usually snarky person, "it just happens that your swords made perfect prongs to work with the electromagnetics required for the weapon."

Sam was impressed, scared, and relieved to hear Trav's response. It was seldom for the guy to get this serious but after his run in with the White Fang he had shown a bit more hostility if the subject came up. He nearly yelled at Ozpin telling him he didn't want to talk about it. Sam shrugged his shoulders and nodded at the marvel that was the Railgun-Particle-hybrid weapon, Travis put the blueprints in the drawer and walked out of the room. Brandon had nearly finished what he was doing and Travis walked over to the skeletal structure of his staff that was the beginning of his weapon. Reese had gone back into his tarped fortress of mystery and was using a grinder sending sparks out of the tarp. The four all looked at what was being done, they were taking steps to becoming huntsmen, a job that none of them ever wished for. They wanted to be engineers, musicians, teachers, but not warriors. Nothing they learned could prepare them for a life of fighting. Only Travis showed the ability to fight and he had gotten himself into a match with one of the scariest people in the whole school after insulting arguably the scariest teacher in the school. Travis chuckled at this fact when he realised this fact and walked to a chunk of metal he had begun working on to take his mind off the more technologically advanced weapon. He placed it on a large mill and began to shave metal off it trying to get it to shape into what he wanted. With a smile on his face he had one thought. _Miss Xiao Long, I look forward to our match._

 **-Okay I'm going to be honest I really wanted to get to the fight in this chapter but I didn't so I promise that next chapter will have the fight between Travis and Yang. And as a bonus I'll throw in a second match because I want more reasons to write fight scenes, more practice is always need more work on those. Besides that not much else from this side of the story. Anyway see ya later suckers.**


	4. Chapter 4: Round One! And Two I Guess

**Author's Note: Whoo we finally get some violence! YAY! Should I be worried about that? Of course second voice in my head that appears to be early signs of schizophrenia! But backing away from that I'm so excited I finally get to write something besides talk, talking, and more talking. There is only so much I can Travis' insults before I question my life choices. Hopefully this will turn out fine. My apologies for the descriptions of the weapons and armor in advance.**

Chapter 4: Round One! And Two I Guess.

It was late in the night the campus of Beacon was silent. Well except for the metalshop as the sound of grinders, welding torches, and milling machines were running wild in the night. Travis stood above a table looking at his craftsmanship with jubilee. He wiped his brow of sweat and collapsed onto a nearby chair. The past week had been a rough on Team BBRS, they had their first exam in Oobleck's class and oh boy was it a doozy. They had been introduced to the full Team JNPR after meeting Miss Nikos the other day. While Ren and Nora gave the Euphonium player weird vibes about their relationship, Jaune on the other hand seemed like a person they all could relate to. He was weak, unqualified, a wimp, something all of them had in common with the leader of Team JNPR. Plus, Travis had an easy time making fun of him. The sound of the door opening caught the attention of the tired student. From behind him was the blonde boxer Yang in her combat clothes grinning ear to ear with her hands on her hips.

"So you gonna be ready?" She asked eagerly hoping to smash his face in.

Travis sighed, "Yes, preparation are complete. Your ass kicking will come tomorrow on the battlefield."

Yang appeared to be hurt,but it was a faux pas, along with an exaggerated hurtful sigh. "That's no way to talk to a lady."

"I'll be sure to watch my language when I'm around a lady then."

 _Oh so that's how we're going to play_ , Yang thought to herself letting Travis' insult stew for awhile. She was about to retort his comment before another voice rang out. "Of for god's sake why don't you two just get a room!?" Reese yelled, his head peering out of the tarp where he kept his weapon hidden from the group.

Travis, and Yang, just glared at Reese who just went back to his hovel frustrated and annoyed by the two's constant conversation. Yang had stolen Travis' notebook two days ago and Travis had put gravy instead of BBQ sauce on a steak and gave it as an 'apology'. Sooner or later their confrontation needed to happen or Travis might go all supervillain on them and create a nuclear warhead to blow up Yang.

"Miss Xiao Long-"

"Yang."

Ignoring her comment Travis repeated. "Miss Xiao Long if you please I need to get to bed, I am very tired and if you wish for a fair fight I will need my rest."

 _Let's see if I can make him squirm_ , she thought. "Well if you apologise maybe I can help you with that," she told Travis with a bit of seduction in her tone walking closer to him.

He didn't bite instead his eyes narrowed and the tone in his voice went to anything but accepting of the advance she made. "Listen here! You can insult me, berate me, shove me in a hole and make me feel bad, but you will not be making any advances on me! Do you understand!?" He decided to not say the next that popped in his mind for fear she would destroy him right where he stood, he was still a bit afraid of her. His mind was screaming, begging him to say: _Damn, blonde bimbo._

She hadn't meant for him to take it too seriously. She backed away a bit frightened, she saw the anger in his eyes with a fury that could almost match her's. Reese now wiping his hands clean with a rag ended the conversation. "Yang, I think it would be best if you didn't bother him the rest of today and tomorrow. Just focus on your fight." Yang took this chance to leave after thanking Reese for showing a little bit of decency while looking at Travis, who was about to grab a hammer and smash her brains in. When Yang left Travis let out a sigh and shook his head. Reese then comforted him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about her right now. You're just a little fried at the moment from the week we've had."

"I suppose you're right Reese," Travis said wiping his eyes and chin with his palms, "god I hope I can take her down.

"Or take her **out**?" Reese jokingly corrected. Travis turned to Reese with a look that said: _You wanna go too?_. "I'm just kidding man. You could never get a girl like her. She's out of your league."

Travis turned back to the weapons that laid on the table and grabbing a screwdriver began to look them over. "You know that doesn't help the self esteem issues I've been hiding for years. And we know she's definitely in your league Reese." His last comment was filled to the brim with sarcasm.

"Whatever. I'm done here so you want to head out? Get some sleep?"

"Sure some sleep sound great right about now," Travis agreed about to turn towards the door till he stopped and pointed his screwdriver at the tarp, "but first you're going to show me what you did?"

"Travis c'mon it's a surprise."

"Reese either you show me or I go take a look myself. I recommend you go with the first option."

Reese with a sigh said, "Come on," before opening the tarp allowing Travis entry. Travis just stared at what Reese had made and said five simple words.

"What. The. F**k. Is. That?"

The next morning came as quite the surprise for the girls of Team RWBY. Yang was already gone, she usually was one of the last ones up and barely made it in before class started. The alarm went off to the groans of all three of the occupants. Weiss being the closest tried to shut it off by swinging her arm wildly in the general area of the clock while her face was still buried in her pillow. It was then that another hand pushed on the clock. Weiss looked up to see the smiling of Yang Xiao Long peering from above that nearly made her fall out of her bed.

"Good morning Ice Queen," she cheerfully greeted with a singsong tone in her voice .

Weiss rubbed her head from the bottom of the floor she sneered at the blonde who woke her up abruptly. "And just what do you think you're doing up so early?" Her stuck up voice asked. She had noticed she was already geared out for combat.

"Oh I thought it would be a good idea to get some extra training so I could beat in Travis' face a bit more," she grinned butting her knuckles together.

Ruby who was still groggy wiped her eyes and yawned and briefly caught their conversation. "You really want to beat down this kid huh?"

"Uh yeah, wouldn't you?"

It was Blake who suddenly chipped in already reading one of her many books. "While he isn't the nicest guy around don't you think you're being a bit too hasty?"

"Absolutely not. You heard the things he said to me! He needs to be taught a few manners."

They all knew that none of them would be able to convince Yang of anything short of beating the poor kid in. Yes Travis had put himself into this position but the death sentence from Yang was a bit harsh to say the least. It was then that the four girls of Team RWBY heard their next door neighbor's door slam with a few footsteps following. Muffle sounds of the three members welcoming their friend back could be heard. _He must have trained too,_ Yang bit her thumb, _he tenacious I'll give him that._ She was about to go next door but then remembered Reese's words. She respected all the members of Team BBRS, except for Travis of course, and he did ask politely. When was she anything but a lady?

Sparring class was different from most classes, obviously. Every student wasn't going to fight because of how unpredictable fighting could be. Think of it like a batting order in baseball, you may not bat during this inning but you will next inning. Today they were doing one-on-ones until they went through the entire rotation. Usually it was by volunteers who got to go first but since Travis volunteered a week in advance everybody knew what was going to happen. Word of the two students beef caught like wildfire and everybody wanted to see it. The stands were packed with students who currently didn't have classes and even Ozpin sat down to watch firsthand. Students set up cameras earlier to stream the match like a tournament fight and some students were watching in secret instead of work. Word was in Port's class he decided to skip the lesson and have them watch on a bigger screen in his room to his students glee. The Blonde vs. The Brave was what they were calling it, well some people thought it should be 'Stupid' rather than 'Brave' but 'Brave' makes for good television. Glynda Goodwitch stepped out into the middle of the arena to announce the fight.

"Uh welcome," she said to the large group, "as you know this will be the first match where we will see the members of Team BBRS fight. Mr. Travis Basco has requested that he fight with Ms. Yang Xiao Long." Glynda then turned to a few of the more rambunctious members in the audience, "I ask that you do not encourage the combatants or distract them. If not…" She didn't have to say the rest, everybody knew you don't cross Glynda Goodwitch, unless you're Travis.

From one side Yang stepped out waving to the crowd greeted by cheers and whistles. From the other side, the challenger, Travis Basco in his armor and his weapon on his back came walking in. As a fan of knight's armor Travis' seemed to take some inspiration. Armor ran down the sides of his legs, not on the front mind you, and his kneecaps were protected by plated armor. A chestplate kept his organs from danger while gauntlets were wrapped on his arms. The parts that didn't have armor, i.e. his elbows, neck, legs, and waist area, were covered with a grey mesh material. The armor itself was a deep mossy green color with the sidings and ends colored with a dulled silver. Honestly, you could've mistaken him for one of Team CRDL's members if you didn't know better. Yang looked at Travis' blank stare, the armor actually suited him nicely, she took a peek at what weapon Travis made. After cracking his neck he reached behind him and pulled out an executioner's axe. It was about six feet in length (1.8288 meters), the axe blade stretched out to about six inches (0.1524 meters). It was a single blade, not double sided like most axes, but there was a certain silence that entered the room when he placed pommel on the ground. If you put a flag behind him it would have been a majestic scene. If you took a close look at the body of the axe you would notice the body was graduated as you went down it, meaning the bottom was wider that the top where it was connected to the blade. Travis did this to keep it balance as much as he could, after all he needed an axe not a war hammer. Blazoned across the mossy colored green weapon that matched his armor were three letters coinciding with one another: 'XYZ' were all intertwined with one another making a curious design. Yang got in a readied stance while Travis propped up the axe on his shoulder. Glynda gave them the go ahead and the lights dimmed themselves down.

"Fight when ready!"

Yang started first by literally jumping, fist first, at Travis, who didn't move away. Taking the full force of the punch Yang's right fist collided with Travis' left cheek. The whole auditorium winced in pain as to what just happened even Ozpin raised a curious eyebrow at this. When the dust settled Yang Xiao Long was still in a punching position while her fist was connected to the left cheek of Travis Basco who was standing still. She clearly connected the punch but whether it did anything to the axe wielder was entirely up to question. His right hand was off to the side while his left was still holding the axe. It took her a moment to realize what happened and she coiled her fist back and Travis' face stayed stuck, unfazed. _Is he broken?_ She asked herself about to tap him to see if was okay. Suddenly Travis' right hand took a hold of his chin, gripped it tightly and tried to move it. She wasn't sure what was happening but she found it gross as his right hand struggled, or at least pretended to struggle, to move his neck back while it popped and cracked. With one final push his neck straightened out and he had a smile that would make the devil scared, his eyes appeared to be crazed and uneven.

"Nice move," he muttered in a bone chilling tone that only Yang could hear, "here's mine."

Gripping the body of his axe he swung the weapon at Yang's feet catching her off guard, she expected an attack from above instead of a sweep. The axe was definitely solid as Yang soon found out being swept off her feet and being punted like a soccer ball (or football) by Travis. She quickly rolled back to her feet with a blast from Ember Celica and the two began to circle one another. Yang keeping her arms at the ready, was in a defensive stance. Trav, on the other hand, was taking more casual steps and swinging the axe so it rolled on the outside of his palm and back into his grip. Trav then took the initiative. While holding his axe with both hands he charge the girl who fired shots from Ember Celica. The axeman weaved in and out dodging the shots aimed towards him, one however, was too close to dodge so he angled his shoulders to take the brunt of the attack. It worked thankfully as he emerged, still running towards Yang, from the smoke and when he got within range he cross-checked her like a hockey player. She wasn't expecting him to come out of the blast so the hit by the body of the axe came as a surprise leaving her open. She fell back the perfect distance as Travis quickly switched his hand position so he was able to bring down the blade of axe right on Yang's head. The aura took the hit as Yang was knocked farther back and Travis went back to propping his axe on his shoulder. Yang rolled quickly and used her gauntlets to transfer her momentum so she was racing towards Travis. The armored student smiled and readied a sweep already in the motion. This time Yang was ready as she hopped back. Travis was caught off guard and she ran back in getting a few enhanced punches forcing his body to contort to her Dust enabled shots. With a growl Travis swung his axe wildly in the general direction of Yang, who was too close to dodge. Again Yang was knocked near the wall of the arena. _This seems to be a running theme with him. Let's exploit that,_ she thought loading a bullet into Ember Celica and firing multiple shots at Travis. The exploit was that he had no long range capabilities which proved to be an issue is he was going to create distance constantly. Travis began to run towards Yang. _If I can keep her in the corner I should be able to overpower her_ , he thought. Weaving in and out once again her shots seemed more planned and less haphazard than last time making it more difficult. _Okay let's see if this will work,_ he said letting a bullet hitting him. The area that Travis was just at was engulfed in smoke and the crowd, both in the arena and watching in classrooms got nervous. They were loving this, Team RWBY especially, they didn't want to see it end. When Glynda looked at her tablet she noticed that both were at orange in their aura, Yang's being slightly higher at the moment. _Well did I get him?_ Yang asked herself squinting into the cloud. No she didn't as the view of the Travis' axe wildly coming towards her answered. It was thrown from the cloud of smoke and the blade lodged itself in the wall cracking it and making a few pieces crumble. Everybody mouths just gawked at this. Thankfully Yang had enough time and ducked beneath it, still it gave her quite the scare. She was still looking at it while she stood up. What she didn't see was Travis running towards her, leaping, and delivering a wicked punch to the face. He threw more and with her being off guard he she took them all. A right hook followed by a left uppercut, leading to a jab of the knee into the same foot kicking her in the stomach. She was able to stumble away from the wall and held her stomach with one hand and one of her arms still raised in position, meanwhile Travis was beginning to grab his axe.

"Not bad," she managed to breath out.

"The same can be said for too," he complimented beginning to pull on the axe, "but this is where it ends." Usually when someone says a phrase signalling the end they brandish their weapon to their victim but Travis didn't instead he noticed his axe was stuck in the wall, it wouldn't budge. Taking both hands he began to pull, it still wouldn't move.

This prompted Yang to laugh. "Ok I'm sorry but that's hilarious."

Needless to say it was a bit embarrassing, actually a lot more than a bit. _Well then it looks like I get to test out the other thing I put in._ Miss Goodwitch's voice came over the hall. "Mr. Basco do you need help removing your weapon."

"No, Miss Goodwitch," he said flipping a switch on the axe then taking a few steps back, "this will just take a second."

"Let me know if you need my help," Yang joked.

"Oh don't worry, just stand right there and it will be all fine…" he said beginning to run up to the body of the axe.

Unlike last time the axe came right out and Trav swung it wildly again. Yang was able to dodge slightly but noticed a hot sensation had hit her right leg. She looked down to see a red burn mark. She then looked to Travis' weapon and the blade part of the axe was glowing a bright orange, the wall where the axe was lodged in also had scorch marks. Yang looked at the weapon with curiosity about how he did that.

"I added Fire Dust capabilities to the axe," he answered her unspoken question, " I read a way to heat the blade of a weapon without melting the blade or lighting anything on fire. Boy the amount of axe heads I went through was astonishing. Now back to our skirmish."

He swung the now hot blade down at Yang's head trying to split it like a watermelon. She was now on the defensive as any attempt to get close was going to be met with a burning sensation. His movement with the axe had changed, he was flourishing the axe more with little care and precision. He reminded her of how Ruby uses her scythe, the only issue was he seemed more unpredictable. As she tried to dodge backwards he spun the axe around his body like one of those signs you see outside of pizza places, throwing it up and catching it with ease, only when the blade touched the ground it brought up small sparks. She jumped up and fired a few shots but Travis had learned how she used them for momentum and was ready to meet her with a swing of the axe. With a burning swing he launched her like a golf ball, using the broad side of the axe, as she went into a wall. A smile had found its way onto Travis face, he was enjoying this fight immensely. Then from the area where Yang landed came an explosion of fire that caught Travis by surprise. Yang was standing up, Travis noticed her hair was burning and her eyes had gone red. _I didn't set her hair on fire did I? If I did then I might have to apologize._ With an unbelievable speed Yang met Travis inches away from his face and socked him in the gut. This punch was more powerful than anything before sending him sprawling back, he lost the grip on his axe sending it off to the side. He got back up looking for his weapon only to see it farther than he could make it before Yang caught up to him. So he readied his hands into a defensive stance and prepared himself for whatever hell awaited. Yang rushed towards Travis throwing punches once again. He was able to push away two before being caught by one that lifted him in the air quite high. Yang, using her gauntlets fired shots so she was able to get above him. When Travis opened his eyes he saw Yang reeling back a punch that he knew was going to hurt. _Oh son of a bit-_ , he didn't get to finish the thought as Yang plowed his face into the ground. Travis bounced off the ground lying face down. A buzzer went off and the lights that were dim came back into full brightness.

"And that's the match," Miss Goodwitch announced, "excellent work Miss Xiao Long."

Yang didn't even notice the match had ended until her red eyes turned back to her natural lilac color. She smiled and nodded in agreement. "Thank you."

"Hey!" Someone yelled from the crowd, "Travis isn't getting up!"

Both of the female's head turned to see Travis was still slumped over not moving. Out of fear Yang ran towards him to see if she broke anything, her temper had a way of causing those accidents. She knelt down and was about to run to Ms. Goodwitch but Yang heard something, it was odd and unfamiliar from Travis. It sounded like laughter? Travis soon rolled over in a full on belly laugh seemingly unharmed besides a bruise on the right side of his face. It wasn't maniacal, or crazy, not disturbing or weird but just of pure laughter that seemed unnatural for someone of Travis… ways to be laughing.

"Oh god," he said in between laughter and breathing, "we have got to do that again Yang."

She smiled at this looking at the kid practically rolling on the floor like a child till she noticed something he said. "Wait, you used my first name."

He looked at her funny and confused. "Yeah," he said, "I told you I use first names when I respect someone."

Helping him up the crowd erupted into cheers, whistles, and claps. Mainly for Yang because she won. Ruby was swooning over Travis' axe she couldn't help but let her mind ramble on to Weiss. "Did you see that?! It was all stuck in the wall and then he went like *whoosh* and then she was like 'whaaa' and then he was like 'oh yeah look at me fiery axe'." Her sound effects were spot on by the way.

"Ruby enough!" The heiress shouted at Ruby who began to whimper and pout, "we all saw it. It was amazing, whatever."

"You're just angry because he's gotten closer to beating Yang than you ever have," Ruby pointed out, a smug grin plastered across her face.

"He was not!" Weiss protested.

Their argument was cut short by Ms. Goodwitch coming over the sound system. "Now I know that seems like a tough act to follow but we have time for one last round with another member of Team BBRS, any volunteers?" There were none, all of the students who had this class were a little scared of the performance Travis had put on. What if they were all as good? Or worse what if he was the worst fighter on their team? The thought sent shivers down their spines. Glynda sighed and began a randomization process. All the students gulped as they saw their picture roll by at least once. Jaune was so scared of being picked, he was already the worst fighter in the probably the whole school, what chance did he have of facing someone like Travis even if they were a little worse than him. _Oh, please don't merciful gods above,_ the blonde knight prayed to himself.

It wasn't Jaune that much can be said, it was a member of Team JNPR if it was any consolation prize. Glynda's voice called out, "Pyrrha Nikos," and the spartan's eyes went wide. Now during this time some of the people who weren't in the class watching began to leave, now that the main event was over, before sitting back down when Pyrrha's name was called. They got to see not only Yang Xiao Long fight but then get a double feature of watching the Invincible Girl fight one of these guys too? It was too big of an opportunity to pass up. "And her opponent will be…" Glynda said as the four faces of Team BBRS cycled through before stopping on the computer's selection, "Reese Martins!" When Travis heard this while being assisted by Yang over to the locker room door he turned around to see Reese's ID photo paired next to Miss Nikos. _Oh good god he's screwed,_ his mind went. Yang sat him down in the locker room where Sam and Brandon were watching the match from before on screens in the room. Yang was about to leave before Travis grabbed her arm making her turn in reaction.

"Stay a while, get comfy," Travis told the blonde who had beaten him, "best seat in the house better than having to walk up those godforsaken stairs."

She soon sat and looked at the screens as Pyrrha appeared in her armor and weapons from one side. Reese then came from a door in the locker room talking to his teammates. "Let's do this," he said his voice coming from behind Yang. His voice was odd she noticed like it was scratchy, and almost sounded like it was coming from a radio. When she turned she what Reese was wearing. She couldn't fathom nor describe what he was wearing. He walked out the door without so much as a "How do you do?" to Yang. Then the whole world saw what Reese chose to create.

The first thing you have to know about Reese Martins is that back on Earth he was a huge Star Wars fan, if his Imperial snapback wasn't enough to tell. He had always found a love for the character Boba Fett, the bounty hunter who had about eight lines of dialogue and one of them was the 'Wilhelm Scream'. Still the whole world had fallen for the green armored space man and he likewise did too. So when the time came around for making weapons he decided he would become a Mandalorian, the name of Boba Fett's armor style (I recommend you look it up on google because my description of it will be awful). Well he did a pretty good job of it. His helmet was domed at the top covering the entirety of his head while being a bit larger than the diameter of said head. The black slits in it created for his eye sight were done to a 'T' and looked like the letter 'T' just with curve. The actual armor covered his chest along with his shoulder blades. When it came to his legs the armor front of his shins, kneecaps, and thighs. There were two gauntlets on his wrist that led down to his forearm. There were two holsters that carried two individual firearms, what they did was a mystery. On his back was a jetpack, yes a jetpack, and where the armor usually has a missile on the jetpack Reese decided not to do that because of the danger of having an explosive two inches from his head gave him the heebiejeebies. Despite it being a little weird at first Reese looked natural in it, his lanky form did the rust-brown colored armor justice. The spartan didn't know what to make of Reese, with his face covered it was impossible to get a read on him. So here was the second match: the Invincible Girl who has never lost versus some guy in armor the world of Remnant has never heard of. _Okay Reese you got this,_ he assured himself, _just remember what Travis taught you. Don't stay still, take your shots wisely. And. Don't. Get. Hit._ He could feel Travis' finger poking into his chest like he did the other night when he showed him his Mandalorian armor.

"Just so you know," Reese said through his scratchy radio to Pyrrha, "this is for knocking me over in the library the other day." This was met by laughs of Pyrrha.

Glynda shook her head to stop staring at Reese and began the match. "Let the match commence!" She yelled and the lights dimmed once again.

Pyrrha immediately charged with Milo and Akouo in sword form. While Reese brought up the two pistols and fired two consecutive shots of energy at the spartan. Rolling out of the way to the right clockwise she readied her sword for a swing as she came around to meet Reese head on. Reese took the blow to the chest where the aura took it like a champ. He grabbed her arm as it was retreating back pulled her back in only to be met by her shield checking him in the gut sending him to the ground. Using his jetpack he hovered quickly into the air firing off pistol shots around Pyrrha hoping one or two shots would land. Well one did, which made him feel accomplished today but Pyrrha switched her sword to a lance and leaped up to the flying man. Angling his body to avoid the lance he gave a point blank shot to Pyrrha which did hit, but most got deflected by her shield. Pyrrha was forced to land and when she did she threw her shield at Reese. Unable to avoid it Reese tried catching the shield, oh god he would regret that. Grabbing it too late he was knocked out of the air and discarded the oversized frisbee to the side. He looked at the two pistol and clicked the barrel of one with the butt of another and twisted the farther back one. The two pistol, then, shifted and transformed into a larger rifle in Reese's hands. Everybody in the room went 'oooh' at the transformation that just happened. Reese brought up the larger gun to his face and fired more precise shots at Pyrrha. She began to run in and out of the shots blocking shots that were too close for her to dodge until making it within striking distance. With her lance she swept at his legs prompting him to fall over. Using his jetpack he didn't fly this time but skidded across the ground. She had to chase him again, and chase she did switching her lance back into sword. _Gotcha,_ Reese thought bringing up his left gauntlet. From his wrist he shot out a cable that wrapped itself around one of the legs of the scarlet woman. When it finished he quickly increased the thrust on his pack sending him, and Pyrrha, into the sky. Then quickly he shut off the thrust leaving the two hanging before Reese angled down headfirst, Pyrrha still below him. Turning his pack back on he accelerated towards Pyrrha slamming his fist into her back launching her into the ground. Everybody in the crowd nearly lost it at this point as the new guy landed a good hit on the legendary Pyrrha Nikos. His cable retreating into his gauntlet he walked away from the crater he had made moments ago dusting himself off. There was one issue, where was Pyrrha? That answer came quickly as Pyrrha, virtually unharmed, began her assault on Reese who was unprepared. She did multiple slashes across his body, and threw her shield at him once again before switching to her lance throwing it at Reese forcing him to roll away after the hit. When he turned he was met by the full frontal force of Pyrrha's shield once more as she charged at him sending him to the floor, her javelin had magically come back to her arms. The two were in a classic position. One warrior on the ground faced with the decision to make a move and run the risk of getting whacked in the face by a javelin. The other: surrender. He chose the latter. Raising his hands in the classic position the buzzer went off, the lights got brighter, Pyrrha smiled and offered a hand, and the crowd went nuts after two stellar matches. Ruby was going bonkers over Reese's armor while Weiss tried to ignore her, Blake seemed impressed by it but just barely. The members of Team JNPR were cheering over Pyrrha's victory but were still impressed by Reese's performance.

"That's all the matches we have time for today," Miss Goodwitch, "please remember that you all still have homework to complete for your other classes."

Satisfied Ozpin stood up from the back and walked out, cane and coffee in hand, a message from Qrow was on his scroll. _So how'd the new kids do?_ His message asked. After Ozpin had told Qrow about the group from another world Qrow became skeptical of their abilities. Ozpin replied with a small chuckle: _Looks like they're staying._

The three teams of RWBY, JNPR, and BBRS, were walking down the halls to their dorm rooms which were all surprisingly close to one another. Ruby was swooning at at the gear the four came up with. "I mean how did you come up with these things?!" She asked excitedly poking Reese's Mandalorian inspired armor.

"Ruby Rose," Weiss said, knocking Ruby out of her weapon-induced high, "do not pester them, they are clearly tired."

Ruby proceeded to pout leading everybody else to chuckle and laugh about the two's constant back and forth. "Hey don't worry Ruby," Reese told the disappointed girl, his helmet removed and resting in his arm pressed against his hip, "I can tell you later."

"Still though," Yang said to Travis, "you really caught me off guard with the Fire Dust on the axe blade. What do you even call that thing anyway?"

"What do I call it?" Travis asked looking back at the axe he carried over his shoulder, "I'd call it an axe but what do I know I'm crazy."

"No dummy, it's name."

This caught Travis off guard. He had forgotten the huntsman and huntresses like to name their unique weapons. He had to come up with something quick, something simple, something believable. "XYZ (pronounced ex, why, zee)," he told the group nervously as the first idea had popped into his tired brain.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Blake asked confused by the name.

"Well in a 3D space those are three required coordinate points for all object in space. They are known as the axis."

Reese immediately facepalmed, followed by Brandon and Sam. "Really Travis? That's what you're going with?" Reese asked since he understood the awful pun that would make Yang proud if she got the reference.

"Hey it could be worse I could name it something that doesn't even look like english like some people," Travis said pointing to Weiss with his thumb.

"Hey!" The Ice Queen exclaimed, followed by more laughs by the group.

They got to all of their close dorm rooms. "Well I know me and Reese are going to collapsed when we hit the hay, so please don't go bothering us," Travis said to the group.

"Oh come on I didn't beat you that hard," Yang playfully protested.

"You literally slammed me into the ground from like thirty feet up. I don't care who you are I deserve a nap."

"Still don't need help with that." Yang's flirtatious ways returned

"If you even get close to me I'll use Sam's concussive blast to make you go deaf."

"At least I won't have to hear you then."

The group got uncomfortable with Yang's and Travis' back and forth umm… unique conversation till Reese put himself in between the two. "Do I need to get a hotel room for you two?"

Travis smiled and opened the door to the room. "No but if you're going to be so persistent about getting a hotel room why not take Yang yourself?"

Reese went dead with a cold stare at Travis who got a big grin and entered the room. Yang laughed it off too and went inside followed by every other team member walking into their respective rooms leaving Reese dumbfounded and alone in the hallway. "What the hell just happened?" He asked the three members of his team walking in his room and closing the door.

Ozpin and Glynda were in Ozpin's office. It was getting late and the two were nearly finished with paperwork. Naturally the conversation turned to the highlight of the day: the matches involving Team BBRS. Ozpin taking a sip of coffee going back over the recordings of the two fights.

"They really are something else aren't they?" Glynda asked keeping her focus on her tablet.

"Yes they seem to have adjusted to their new life here," Ozpin said.

"That wasn't what I was asking."

"But you were going to."

He wasn't lying Glynda was going to note they had remarkably adjusted to life on Beacon. But there was a burning question in Glynda's mind. "Do you think we can get them home?"

Ozpin was silent for a while, he paused the two recordings, and turned to the landscape beyond the tower. "If they are as dedicated as they were to making their weapons and adjusting to their new life then I think they will have a chance. But we can only take them so far."

"Was that what that was? A test?"

"A little bit, they also need a way to defend themselves."

"Do you think Travis might be right? He expressed concern there could be more people from their world worried, scared, and far from home."

"There is no way to tell Glynda, I'm sure the other headmasters and huntsmen will take notice if something is off in the coming days. Until then we must be the observers and let Team BBRS take the lead from here."

 **-Wooo! Action! Violence! Even if it was poorly written! Listen just a small thing I want you to know: No Yang and Travis will not be shipped, for legitimate reasons including the fact I cannot write romance. Next chapter we'll go into more of Sam and Brandon, hopefully, and their weapons, probably not a whole chapter dedicated to their fights, but there will be plenty of character crap. Anyways see ya later suckers.**


	5. Chapter 5: They're What Now?

**Author's Note: So how ya'll doing? Good? Bad? In between? Whatever floats your boat. Hey I just want you to know that I may want some advice on semblances, I have one figured out and I need three more as of right now. I really don't have many ideas in terms of that kind of stuff. So feel free to give me ideas.**

Chapter 5: They're What Now?

"Mr. Perish!" The voice of Professor Port boomed.

Sam's head shot straight up from his desk where he had been sleeping to see all the students were looking at him. Professor Port stood in the middle of the classroom with his arms behind his back. "Yes Professor Port?" Sam asked, dread filled his tone.

"Since you seem well rested," the professor noted, "why don't you give the next demonstration."

He sighed and stood up his head drooped down and began a walk of shame until Travis raised his hand. "Actually Professor that might not be the best idea."

"Oh and why is that Mr. Basco?"

Travis gave a sigh, he knew what he was about to say would be hard to fathom. "Because in this closed environment his weapon has the capability to make us all go deaf."

This caused several murmurs among the crowd and worry began to spread throughout the class till the professor calmed his class down. "I highly doubt that."

All Travis did was shrug, he knew it was hopeless to argue with the teacher, he turned to Sam. "Sorry man I tried."

Sam gave another sigh and brushed his hair across his eyes and left to proceed putting his combat clothes on. When he returned the Beacon uniform was gone, replaced by a dark blue quarter zip jacket with small, minimalistic pieces of armor on his elbows. He wore jeans that had the similar white colored armor but located on his knees. His armor was not as complex as say Reese's or Trav's, Sam and Travis didn't think it would be necessary. Then there was his weapon, the same weapon that caused many explosions, frustrated nights, the same Travis had been flung to the wall on multiple occasion. It was white and styled like an arm mounted cannon-thingy. The barrel was black that was surrounded by rings that glowed a bright blue. There were claws that seemed to latch onto the top side of his arm designed like how an insect latches onto a stick, if you looked at it you would almost say it looked painful but Sam felt comfortable. From the bottom of the barrel to the outer shell of the metal armor around the weapon was a light blue energy pulsing through the machine. To top it off in the midsection of the barrel were two protruding blades that had small sparks of electricity traveling the distance between the two blades. Honestly it looked like a lethal Portal Gun from the Portal series of video games, Reese and Travis if you already didn't know were nerds. Stepping to the far wall everybody got a good look at the cannon on Sam's left arm with the claws holding it onto his arm forcibly squeezing itself onto his forearm.

"Well then Mr. Perish," the professor announced, "are you familiar with the Grimm known as the 'Creep'?"

"You mean those creepy looking rat things with the spines?" Sam had seen Travis' rather detailed drawings on the Grimm and found the Creep to be on of the more unsettling. The class gave a slight chuckle upon hearing his response, even the members of Team BBRS were slightly amused.

"Um yes, those 'creepy looking rat things with spines'," The professor noted taking Sam's unique description to use. He brought up his Blunderbuss and lifted the axe end on a cage with a lock. "Let the demonstration begin!" He yelled breaking the lock.

Two glowing red eyes were visible from the cage, a sight Sam had seen only once, the other three had never seen a Grimm alive so they were eager to see one alive. Sam saw a beowulf the first day they arrived in Remnant, sure he fainted almost immediately but having a way to defend himself. Not wanting to destroy everybody's hearing he clicked a button and the two blades jutted out and Sam grabbed them by the hilts. They were simple blades, about a foot and a quarter in length (or 0.381 meters). They were flat on one end and bladed on the other. Putting them in both hands he held them with the blades pointing down. Then the beast came out. On two legs its three toed feet trodden out of the cage giving its unusual squeal. It took one look at Sam, seeming disinterested with the other students, it saw Sam's fear and wanted more. It ran after him while Sam readied a defensive position with his nerves on edge. When it got close it leapt on top of the Saxophone player knocking him down. As it growled in his face he could smell its rancid breath and with his foot he kicked it off. Standing back up he flipped one of the blades so it face a normal position. The beast ran in only to be stopped by a defensive hand as Sam brought on the blades on the top of its body hitting a gap in its bone like growths. It roared and bucked Sam away from it. The beast, now angry, began to charge the sixteen year old kid. Wanting to end this quickly before they saw how bad he was in combat he placed the two blades in their sockets and let the power in the weapon charge. The blue light began to glow brighter and the rings around the barrel began to glow the same bright blue while the blades transferred electricity between them. Travis took notice of this and prepared himself for the worst thinking, _Oh shit._ Bringing his arm up Sam reinforced it with his other hand looking down the barrel. Closing his right eye he set his sight for the Creep. The weapon then fired off. Nobody but Travis really knew what to expect, multiple students tried to protect themselves from whatever Travis had warned them about. The weapon fired a bolt of blue, static energy at the Creep. When it left the barrel, or formed rather, it sounded like strumming on the strings of a guitar, only it was so loud you probably would blow out the amp. Catching the whole class by surprised they covered their ears that screamed to be covered, except for Travis and Sam. The Creep was hit by the bolt and was blown to smithereens as a second identical, in decibel and frequency, sound went off when it touched the body of the Grimm. Papers were flown around and the whole class except for Sam, Travis, and Professor Port had fallen out of their chairs. The professor had fallen over and was leaning on his desk, Travis was sitting straight up reorganizing his papers, while Sam pulled his arm and his firearm down the power winding down going back to that calm light blue. The class was just beginning to resituate itself when Miss Goodwitch came storming in.

"Professor Port!" She was fuming, "What on Remnant are you doing in this classroom?! If you are not so careful I will-" She was cut off when she saw Sam with the cannon. She surveyed the room and looked at Travis. When Travis had eye contact with the fuming teacher he waved and smiled. "Can I see Mr. Perish and Mr. Basco in Ozpin's office?" It was less a question and more a statement, "Now!"

The whole class, including Brandon and Reese, went 'ooh' which was silenced by Travis's next comment. "You realize I built that cannon after several failed prototypes. If that's the finished product you should see how bad the others were." The whole class shut up when they thought off a worse sound then the one they just heard. Reese had to think about it but he did remember Travis being flown into a wall when he first came up with the idea, he chuckled at that seeing Travis' face when he got back up from those 'experiences'. Glynda walked in front of the two while Sam had dread on his face while Travis was rather cool holding his hands behind his head. Not a word was said while walking through the halls, just the footsteps of the three people. It wasn't until they reached the elevator that Travis began to talk for the group. "Well if it makes you feel any better," he told Sam, "I thought you did a good job."

Sam simply muttered a "Thanks man."

"I mean you kept good form, you didn't have to fire multiple shots, took your time, you-"

"Mr. Basco," Glynda turned around and sneered at the Euphonium player, "I would appreciate it if you kept quiet."

That last comment made Travis narrow his eyebrows at the, in his words, 'bitchy teacher'. He found Glynda to be quite annoying at times, if not all the time. If she wasn't in authority he would go off on her everytime he found it necessary like when they first arrived at Beacon. The door opened to the familiar sight of Ozpin's office. He was sitting drinking from his mug, who Travis sweared used the exact same one, he looked up at Glynda who walked up to the desk while the two students walked out of the elevator. "Can I help you Glynda?" He asked raising an eyebrow. Ozpin then noticed that Travis was standing in the room. "Has Mister Basco insulted somebody again?"

Travis was a little hurt by the comment, not a whole lot because it was the truth, but it still hurt. Glynda sighed and brought up a screen from the class. "Mr. Basco has created a weapon that does this," she told him as the blast from the weapon went off, it jostled the camera around like a rag doll, the sound was white noise for a good second before a second view of the Creep being decimated was shown.

Ozpin once again raised an eyebrow at this. "Mister Basco."

 _Oh boy,_ Travis thought expecting the worst. "Yes Professor Ozpin?" Travis almost sounded like a first grader just sent to the principal's office, he then realized he basically was in a principal's office

"Did you tell Professor Port about Sam's weapon?"

This caught Travis by surprise but he answered anyway. "I told him the effects of the arm cannon could lead to… possibly awful results." Travis didn't want to mention the 'going deaf' part because he knew it would end him up in hot water.

Ozpin took note of how Travis worded his statement and took a sip from his mug. "Was anybody injured?"

"Nothing but the Grimm sir," Sam said cutting in before Travis catching him off guard.

"Well then I don't see anything wrong here Glynda," Miss Goodwitch's head snapped to the headmaster with a baffled look on her face, "they warned Port beforehand. Port, being the responsible teacher he is knew what he was doing."

Glynda was trying to come up with something, anything, but she gave incomprehensible stammers. She sighed out of exasperation and looked down shaking her head. "I guess you two can go."

Relieved Travis gave a small bowing motion. "Thank you, we're sorry for the inconvenience." The two then stepped out into the elevator and waited for the doors to close before Travis spoke again. "Nice job back there," he said pushing the button to go down to the bottom floor.

Sam wasn't as pleased as Travis was, he felt like he did a bad job fighting the Creep. He didn't want to use the cannon at all. Sam gave a barely audible and depressed, "Yeah whatever."

Travis clearly saw he was bummed, he was never the best at boosting one's spirit but he had to give it the old college try. Or in this 'huntsman academy try'. "Hey listen to me," he grabbed Sam's shoulders and turned them so the two were face to face, "we had no idea what was going to happen. The weapon was untested, dangerous, and frankly I half expected you to be blown to bits."

Sam had a hard time feeling better with these amazing words of 'encouragement' coming from the axe wielder. "Uh yeah Travis the whole part of a pep talk is to help someone, not fill them with dread of thoughts about them dying."

"Hey you know I'm bad at this touchy-feely stuff-"

"Yeah you can say that again." Sam interrupted with a snort of laughter

"My point is… you, me, Brandon, and Reese have never fought a day in our life until we arrived here. Reese and I had to fight two of the best, if not the best, first years who have had years and years of experience. I don't care if we lost, we held our own. By all logic we should be worse than Jaune, and trust me I don't think I could live myself if I knew I was worse than Jaune. You, you, fainted when you saw the Grimm, me and the other three have never seen one in our lives, and yet you stood there unafraid to blow its ass inside out. Dude if you can do that, then we'll have no problem getting through this."

 _That actually helped,_ San thought to his surprise. Travis never seemed to be the helpful person, he gave off the impression that he would yell at you while downing a bottle of whiskey in some bar. "Hey, thanks for sticking up for me."

Travis shrugged and faced the elevator door and said. "We four got to stick together. We're the only have each other left Sam."

The sudden shift in tone from Travis was more surprising than his pep talk. They all knew that they were separated from Earth and everyone else, hell, it could just be these four stuck here. Who knew if it their friends and the people on the freeway were transported here?The worst case scenario was that they were stuck here for the rest of their lives. It was sobering to think and they all tried to not think about it, but every now and then it crawled its way into their heads. "Yep," Sam nodded, "gotta stick together."

"Also," Travis noted as the elevator dinged signalling it had reached the lobby floor, "I really didn't want them to take away the blaster after I worked so hard on it."

"Oh," Sam replied faking a hurt tone, "is that what you were afraid of? You didn't want them to take this thing?"

With a chuckle Travis stepped out followed by Sam. "If I said I was more worried about the weapon than you would you be offended?"

"That depends. Did you have confidence in me or were you just more worried about your precious arm cannon?"

Travis paused for a moment before the two got their room. He turned to Sam and smiled and sarcasm filled his voice. "I don't feel inclined to answer your question dear sir."

"Motherf*****r." Sam muttered to Travis as he opened the door.

When the two entered they saw Reese sitting upright on his bed reading a textbook with papers sprawled across the sheets. With his hand holding up his head a pencil eraser was on the percussionists lips as he was reading. It wasn't until Travis slammed the door loudly making Reese do a small jump that Reese noticed the two. "Oh hey," Reese's low monotone voice greeted.

"Afternoon to you too sunshine," Travis snarked back while Sam dislodged his arm cannon from his body. Travis looked around the room and noticed their Trombone player was gone. "What happened to Brandon? You didn't sacrifice him did you?"

Reese glared at Travis who happily smirked back. "He said he was going to practice tonight since he finished early."

Travis then looked to see Brandon's sword was up against the wall and his Trombone case was missing. Travis then remembered a conversation the two seniors had with each other one night. "Ah okay."

"Oh that reminds me," Sam interjected causing both of them to look at him as he began to remove his quarter zip jacket, "I gotta practice too." Sam went to restroom and closed the door. When he returned he was wearing the usual Beacon uniform, the four knew more about each others bodies from the past two weeks then anybody would like to admit and wanted to avoid as much unwanted information as possible. Sam reached under his bed and grabbed his leather brown Saxophone case and proceeded to walk out of the room. "See ya guys later," he said opening the door.

"See ya later man," Travis said walking to his chair, "be careful not to get caught, we want to avoid any unwanted attention."

"Travis," Reese said pulling Travis' attention from the homework he just started. When Travis looked to him, Reese motioned his head to the cannon that was previously on Sam's arm. "I'm pretty sure we got all the attention we don't want."

"Well fine if you want to be a smart ass about it," Travis turned back to the desk and began his work.

With that Sam took his leave as Travis and Reese got busy with their homework from the previous day's classes. It wasn't hard when put into perspective, but he was still a high school sophomore, this was college level work. Thankfully it was a lot of combat training and techniques, history, a splashing of biology and Grimm anatomy, and probably the most glorious part of it all: no math! While Travis was a little bummed by this he quickly got over it when he finally was forced to fight in sparring classes. Reese, as always, was indifferent to the change in class work and the work load. Brandon, like Sam, particularly enjoyed it because of the forth mentioned no math part. The girls were surprised by the dance moves Sam did when he realized he didn't have to take calculus. With a small skip in his step Sam walked down the halls holding his folder with his Sax in the other hand humming some of the pieces they had been working on. The thing he didn't realize was somebody had been following his movements, a certain black haired girl from Team RWBY…

Brandon was in the one of the sparring rooms, that was deactivated, he stood in the middle of the room with a stand he had Travis rig up in the metal shop. He placed his finger on the spit valve of his slide and blew out whatever came out. It was disgusting to anyone who does not play a brass instrument but it's either that or the sound of water moving when you play your instrument. He readjusted the placement of the brass instrument on his shoulder and shook out his face. Then when he was ready he took a deep breath and began to play the music that was in front of him. It was a 'Sousa march', The Invincible Eagle was the piece in question, he had played it many times before but having two weeks of not practicing his lips, or as they called it 'chops', quickly gave out and played a sour note. His eyes narrowed and he pulled away his Bass Trombone from his face and he squinted at his music. _Well that's why_ , he thought grabbing a pencil to make a mark on the paper, _it's a D-flat not a D-natural._ He then went back to playing it which caused him to let his muscle memory come back to him. Almost effortlessly his arm slid up and down the slide and pushed triggers on the instrument making as much beautiful music as a Bass Trombone could. After the piece was done he fingered through his folder for a another piece of music. _Where is Overture to "Candide",_ he asked himself looking for the elusive piece of music. With an 'Aha' he pulled out the piece written by Leonard Bernstein. The group had been working on the piece for a long time and they were excited to play it, seeing as how it was the most underdeveloped in their lineup he found it to be a good idea to rehearse it to fix any unwanted kinks. He spent a good thirty minutes working on the piece before he heard the sounds of someone yelling and someone falling over. Brandon peaked his head out to see Sam, with his Saxophone case on the ground, and Blake, the reclusive girl of Team RWBY in a bit of shock and disbelief. _Aw shit,_ Brandon thought to himself, _Travis won't let us hear the end of this_.

- **Several minutes ago** -

Blake Belladonna was sitting in her team's room reading one of her many books while Ruby was sitting on hr bed, Yang was on her scroll, and Weiss was sitting in the desk doing her homework. For the longest time she wondered about Team BBRS and what they were withholding from everybody. The first night they arrived she overheard them talking about a secret they couldn't tell anyone. Her mind fired off multiple ideas and created threads from one point to another. They could be criminals? Possibly military? Perhaps, however improbable she thought, they were like her? The four heard the muffled voice of Travis and Reese talking with the voice of Sam even more muffled. Ruby suddenly lifted her body up remembering the performance Sam had put on earlier.

"That was so cool!" She yelled nearly giving everybody in the room a heart attack.

Weiss turned in her chair suddenly questioning how Ruby was the team leader. "What are you talking about?!"

"Sam!" She replied as if that's all she needed.

"I'm sorry sis, but we're going to need more than that," Yang said.

"Sam's weapon thingy, did you see it? That poor Creep never saw it coming! It was AMAZING!"

"Okay but where did that come from?" Weiss practically hissing at this point, she was beginning to get tired of Ruby's constant swooning over Team BBRS. It started with Travis', what he'd call it again, XYZ axe, then with Reese's odd looking armor, and with Sam she practically had to be forced fed cookies to keep her quiet after class until she calmed down. Weiss' patience was wearing thin at this point.

"Oh I uh-uh" Ruby stammered.

"It could be the fact that Sam and Travis just got back," Blake calmly said flipping a page in her book.

"Didn't Miss Goodwitch take them to her office?" Yang question returning her focus to her scroll.

"Should we ask them why?" Weiss said with sudden interest in the team.

"Why you hoping they got in trouble?" Yang smiled.

"You saw what that… that thing did. I think Travis should be punished for making such a dangerous weapon," Weiss said quite high and refined.

It was after the voice of Sam saying "See ya later guys," and the door slamming with what was assumed to be Sam's footsteps that three of the girls stood up from what they were doing and approached their door. While slightly creaking it opened they saw Sam carrying a black folder with a weird brown leather case in his hand quickly making his way down the hall. Yang was the first to speak up. "What do you think it is?"

"What do you think what is?" Blake asked suddenly transfixed from her book looking at her teammates at the door.

"Sam's carrying something down the hall," Yang then paused, "it looks like a case."

"Think Travis made a new weapon?" Ruby asked giddily at the thought of his mind creating some death ray.

This peaked Blake's interest, she was told the group was defensive about their enigmatic cases, she pulled herself from her book and joined the group of girls looking out of the door.

"So who wants to follow Sam?" Yang asked enticingly.

"Perhaps one of us should go, if we all start following him he might become suspicious" Blake suggested.

"Oh yeah and who do you suppose is going to do that?" Yang asked sarcastically.

"Well I could," Blake offered.

This caused all three of the girls to peel their heads away from the shrinking figure of Sam to Blake who was still looking at Sam until she looked at the confused faces of her teammates. "What?"

"Since when did you have an interest in the Team BBRS kids?" Weiss asked speaking for the group on that one.

"It's nothing you should be concerned with."

"Oh Blake," Yang said putting her hand to her chest, "are you infatuated with dear little Sam?"

"What?! No!" Blake vehemently protested, "I just want to figure them out. They're keeping a lot of secrets, haven't you noticed?"

"Whatever," Yang quickly shrugged it off and opened the door fully, "well keep the others busy. "just don't get caught okay."

"Fine," the black ninja-like girl said before walking down the hall, "I'll see you guys later."

The sudden suggestion that Blake follow Sam was odd to say the least, she had expressed very little interest in Team BBRS since they first came, Yang found this odd. With a smile, letting Blake doing her thing, she knocked on the door of Team BBRS. The sound of Travis' voice soon came after a few good seconds and Yang nearly knocked a second time.

"Come in," Travis voice rang behind the door. Travis looked up from his papers as he angled a notebook propped up by his legs as a textbook laid across the desk. "Oh hey girls," he said surprised that the three of stood in the doorway, "what can we do for you?"

Yang noticed that it was just Travis and Reese in the room, Brandon must've been somewhere else. The room was still in the clean they first saw when the barged in the Team BBRS room, albeit with a few papers cluttered around their beds. "Oh nothing much," Yang noted, "we just wanted to know if you guys wanted to hang out?"

Travis was thrown off by this. Something seemed off. "Umm thanks but Reese and I have a bit more work to do."

Yang blew off his earlier comment with a scoff, "Come on we have all week to finish up those assignments."

It was then Reese who interjected keeping his focus on the textbooks. "Why put off till tomorrow what you can do today?"

"Duh that's why tomorrow exists. To put stuff onto."

Travis gave a slight chuckle to this. "She has a point Reese, we've been working for a while now."

"You've been working for like ten minutes," Reese said laughing a little.

"Yeah and those have been ten hardworking minutes. I don't have to tell you that out of the four I have worked my f*****g ass off the most here."

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Yang interjected placing her hands over Ruby's, apparently, delicate ears.

"What?!" Travis exasperated putting his pencil down and closing his books.

"Ruby is still fifteen years old," Yang reasoned.

"Yeah and?" Travis asked, "I've been swearing since I was like twelve, at least aloud, I dare not say stuff like that to my mother at a young age."

"Still, try to can it. Now do you want to come with us or not?"

Travis sighed and placed his materials on the desk. "Why not? Got nothing better to do. Reese how about you?"

"I think I'm good man," Reese told Travis while still transfixed with his work.

"Reese? Reese? Yo Eart-urr Remnant to Reese?" Reese still wasn't paying attention, "Reese get your scrawny little as-" Travis then turned to Yang whose face said _do it I dare you,_ "-behind over here or I'm going to chip your armor."

Reese's head shot up when Travis said 'chip your armor'. Nobody touched his armor, unless in combat, he stood up slowly and placed his arm around the Euphonium player's shoulders and smiled. "You know what?" Reese sarcastically noted, "I've been working for a while now I think we can take a little break."

"Good," Travis said a little crazed, "where to Yang?"

"Oh don't worry about that," she said beginning to walk out the door but she noticed something in the corner that was unfamiliar then she remembered someone was missing, "hey where's Brandon?"

"Oh he uh-" Travis fumbled through a little flustered trying to come up with a lie, "he's uh down in the sparring rooms for a little practice."

"Uh-huh," Yang nodded not believing the axe wielder's word for a minute then she pointed to a great sword propped up on a wall, "then why is his weapon here?"

Travis's mind immediately went into 'alert' mode. _Shit, shit, shit,_ his mind went, _they noticed! Why can't Brandon put his stuff away for once?! We need something simple and believable. Aha we'll say he went to the nurse's office that makes sense. Oh man Brandon's going to kill us!_ "Well actually Yang-" Travis began.

"No let me," Reese said pulling Travis aside. _Reese what the hell are you doing?!_ Travis mind flared. "The truth is Yang we are all…"

Sam felt someone was following him. He didn't know if someone was but that feeling was hard to shake off. Every now and then he would switch up the path he took on the way to the training room and look over his shoulder. After the fifth time he peered over his shoulder he gave up and said it was nothing, a line that usually gets you killed in the movies, continuing his path to the sparring area. With a little arguing from Glynda the kids got access to one of the private rooms so the four could practice in secret, Travis thought it was imperative to keep their lives as secret as possible. They all understood but Sam didn't fancy the idea of having to play in secret. He loved playing the Sax, he loved playing music, they all loved to play. Why else would they have continued taking band classes if they hated it? Travis was an odd person, before he came to Remnant, Sam didn't know too much about the Euphonium player since they were two years apart. Seniors and sophomores rarely shared classes except when it came to electives, like band class. The two sat roughly close to each other being in the same row but were separated by the other Euphonium player in the band and a few other Saxophonists. But he did often hear Travis' remarks even if the rest of the band didn't, it was a skill that he took great pride in. Sam approached the room in beneath the sparring hall and heard Brandon playing on his Trombone. _Ah, such a lovely sound,_ Sam said to himself, he loved the sound of nearly all the instruments excluding the bagpipes. Sam was about to knock as he heard someone approaching from the other side of the hall. _Ah crap! I gotta get in fast._ He began to knock fast as a hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Hey Sam what are you two doing?" Blake voice called out behind him.

"AHH!" Sam yelled in fear as he swung his Saxophone case at the raven haired girl. Out of habit Blake pushed the kid down falling with an 'oof' and the case making a considerable amount of noise. Brandon's head soon appeared from the training room.

- **Back to the Present** -

"Um Sam?" Blake asked, "are you okay?"

Sam nursed the back of his head with his hand and stood back up. "Yeah I'll live," he said, "why were you following me?"

"Oh um," Blake felt she was in an awkward position now that Brandon had revealed himself from the room, "no reason just was walking around and I saw you walking so I decided to follow."

"Wait," Brandon said, his body now fully in the doorway, "you followed Sam all the way down here?"

Blake grew more nervous. "Yeah," she said quietly.

"You got a crush on him or something? "Brandon asked bluntly.

"What?!" Blake and Sam vocalized giving Brandon a look, "Why does everybody keep asking that?"

"Well then why don't you explain why you were following little Samuel over here," his body was now leaning on the door.

"I uh… oh fine," Blake gave up trying to find a convincing lie, "We were curious about where Sam was going in such a hurry. So I decided to follow him…" Her voice eventually trailed off while looking ashamed. Brandon was probably the most reasonable and she didn't want to offend him, Travis was a complete and utter jerk most of the time, Sam seemed innocent, and Reese was more reclusive than she was. The last thing she wanted to do was tick off Brandon.

Brandon wiped his brow and sighed, "Well no point in hiding it now. Look the truth is that we are musicians. All four of us. Sam plays Sax, I play the Trombone, Travis is a Euphonium player, and Reese is our percussionist."

Wait that was it? They were musicians? That was what they wanted to hide from everybody? That they played music?! Blake seemed confused by this immensely. That could not be the big secret? Could it? Brandon seemed rather calm about it, he didn't fumble his words, he didn't look flustered for an answer. "Oh really?" Blake asked to conceal her confusion, "can I listen to you two?"

Brandon exhaled and shook his head, "Sam get your Sax ready, we'll play a little of 'Candide'." The three then went into the practice room where more music would be made for another hour or so.

"Prove it," Yang abruptly told the two Team BBRS members.

"Beg your pardon?" Travis asked.

"Prove it," Yang repeated, "you say you're musicians, then prove it. Play something."

Travis and Reese both looked at each other. This was not the response either of them had anticipated. They expected a 'oh wow that's cool' or 'hah that's stupid'. Being told to prove it was not their idea of a good time. Yang was pretty ticked to say the least. _Really musicians? How stupid do you think I look?_ She expected something like secret police undercover, or spies, or something cool at least. Not musicians! Travis sighed for a good few seconds before walking over to the closet, Yang now had her arms crossed. Weiss seemed to be more surprised than Yang. She did had performing background and the fact that they shared one too made them seem more relatable. When Ruby heard musicians her mind instantly went to 'a rock band' but when they mentioned concert style music she grew a bit disappointed. Travis pulled out of the closet a black, bulbous case with the word 'Bach' inscribed on it. He undid the clamps on the case and flipped the top open, a blue felt inside was revealed with half of his gold colored Euphonium was showing. He grabbed a silver mouthpiece and attached it to the now fully visible Euphonium. A Euphonium as described by Travis is: the love child of a Tuba and Trombone. It contains the shape of a Tuba and and plays the in the same octave as a Trombone. Practically cradling the bottom of the instrument he held his right hand on the valves. Blowing air the instrument with puffs his finger moved out of instinct to give the instrument warmth, it's never a good idea to play on a cold instrument. He pulled out a folder and pulled out a piece called 'Molly on the Shore' by Percy Grainger. Tapping his left foot he took a deep breath and began to play through the piece, he even played the Bassoon cue notes. In the piece were three solos that featured him and Travis enjoyed playing the solos because they were fluid, his body moving to the music. You could see his stomach suddenly go in and out as he breathed in and accented notes with staccatos. His eyes were very different altogether, usually there was a feel that he would look down on you or sarcasm. Here his eyes caring and would move the higher the notes went, a lesson he learned was always have space in the face when playing. The piece ended after about three or four minutes, he wasn't going to count out the rests during what was basically a rehearsal for him. He set the instrument down sitting the Euphonium on its bell because it was able to. He looked back at Yang.

"Well" He asked the blonde, "still think I need to 'prove it'?"

She was a little stunned to say the least. Yes the answer did come from Reese which made it seem more plausible, but it also came from Reese, the more mysterious of the bunch. Travis had made himself known for the beef he and Yang had along with calling Goodwitch a 'broad', Sam was noticed because he was like Ruby and with what happened today in class he was surely going to be noticed even more so, Brandon seemed to be the most normal out of the whole bunch. Then there was Reese, much like Blake, he kept to himself. When Ruby nearly begged to see his armor Reese was so stoic he almost said no if it wasn't for Ruby's puppy dog eyes. The fact he seemed to be the only student, the only person rather, to shut Travis up was also odd, rumor began to circulate that one of them was a robot created by the other, no one wanted to go ask them. Reese was an enigma and all the girls knew was that him and Travis had met in a metal shop a few years back.

Yang sighed, hopefully Blake found something more interesting on Sam. Which was when Reese spoke up. "Hey where's Blake by the way?"

Travis' head suddenly shifted to the side, anger had seeped his way into his gaze, he had grown very tired of Yang's antics even after their fight. "Yes Yang," Travis practically growled, "why don't you tell us where dear little Blake is?"

"Oh she went to follow Sam," Yang said bluntly.

Travis nearly threw his Euph at her, he would've bet he knew how expensive it was and the thought of explaining how it got broken did not sound like fun one, but he simply closed his folder and began to put away his instrument. When it was enclosed in the closet where it was previously all Travis could do was shake his head letting his anger go, there had been too many times he let it get the better of him. "Yang I must ask, why do you need to pry yourself into our daily lives?"

"Oh um…"She was taken aback by this question, surprised Travis wasn't yelling at the blonde.

"Do you find pleasure in it? Maybe a sense of satisfaction? Who knows maybe you're just nosey? But I'm getting rather tired of having to deal with this crap. If I had half a mind I would-"

"It was me!" Ruby's hand shot up like a kindergartner wanting to use the restroom.

"What?" Travis was honestly surprised by this.

"It was me," Ruby repeated, "I wanted to know why you guys were so secretive.

Travis and Reese both looked at each other. Reese nodded and turned to the girls while Travis sat back down in his chair. "Listen we know we're keeping a ton of secrets," Reese brought up, "but we don't feel safe letting those secrets loose until we're sure we can trust you guys." It was understandable, you tell four teenage girls that there is another universe, their heads might explode if they found out.

Travis' scroll buzzed and a message from Brandon came up. _Hey letting you know Blake found out we were musicians. We didn't tell her we're not from around here. Sorry about that._ Travis messaged back: _Don't worry man the other three found out after 'somebody' forgot to put their sword away like I asked. No hard feelings it did feel good to play again, and in front of an audience too. We'll just have to be careful about how we do things._ Yang's voice soon lifted Travis' head from his scroll. "Who ya talking to? Girlfriend?"

"No Yang, in fact, that was Brandon informing me of Blake's little recon mission," Travis paused he looked at Yang for awhile before speaking again, "Yang I understand you want to be in the know. But Reese has a point, we will tell you when we can fully trust you."

"So there is something else you're hiding?" Yang said with much excitement, what could they be hiding?

"Yang, please, I'm asking as friend. If you can remain patient for a little while we promise you'll be among the first to know. Just please, wait for us to warm up to you guys."

Yang and the two other girls were stunned, not because there were more secrets to Team BBRS, but that Travis had called Yang a 'friend'. It wasn't awkward or forced, it was sincere. The thought of Travis being sincere sent shivers up Ruby's spine. Seeing Travis being nice was considered a toss up of him wanting to exploit you or him about to crack a joke at your expense. Yang wasn't satisfied with the Euphonium player's response. If he had more secrets then why would he admit it? But the fact Travis willingly called her a friend was a step in the right direction when she wanted to know more. "Ok Travis," Yang said with a smile, "we'll talk later."

Travis didn't like the connotations of 'we'll talk later'. He just simply smiled back at her. "Yes Yang we'll 'talk' later." The three girls left and with a close of a door, both, Reese and Travis gave the longest exhale known to man. Travis slid down the door and sat on the floor, his palm going over his face. "That was too close Reese."

"You don't say?" Reese said with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

"Yeah shut up, I had to play in front of them."

"Oh boo hoo, you didn't have to tell them we were musicians. Do you realize how dangerously close they are to figuring us out?"

"Nooo," Travis filled the air with his sarcasm, "not really, I thought we were in the clear Reese. I thought we could go parade around declaring our homeland. We'll have Sam be in charge of confetti!"

Speaking of Sam, the Team BBRS door nudged slightly before it hit the backside of Travis. A "What the hell?" could be heard, a tad muffled though. Travis moved away from the door and after a second try Brandon and Sam entered the room, their cases still in hand. "Travis, Reese, how you two doing?" Brandon asked setting his case down by his bed.

"Oh you know just peachy. Drinking margaritas, getting interrogated by the girls, you know the usual," Travis commented.

"Happen to you too huh?"

"Yeah I heard Blake went after Sam," A small chuckle soon followed Travis' statement.

"Yeah," was all Brandon said. The atmosphere in the room went quiet, and unsettling, nobody looked at each other. They all stuff to say but they all knew somebody wouldn't like it. "Travis we have to tell them."

"No!" Travis vehemently disagreed, "We can't do that as of now."

"Well why not?"

"Because I don't trust Blake," Travis paused before continuing, "don't you think it is a little odd that Blake went down all by herself to investigate what Sam was doing. Malicious intent or not I find that very peculiar. If someone does find our little secret before we're ready to tell, it will be her. I don't know what it is about her, but she rubs me the wrong way

"Well then what should we do?" Sam asked, it was a question that none of them had an answer to. The room grew silent again, nobody could come up with a good answer

"We could wait till they need to trust us," Reese mentioned surprising all of them.

"What do you man?" Travis spoke for the group on this one.

"Well we, me and Travis, just said that if we trust them we'll spill the beans. I say we wait until something happens to their team and in doing so we appear to trust them and help them in their time of need."

It was sound reasoning if they told them when Team RWBY needed it most then it might show Team RWBY that if an issue in their team showed itself they could trust Team BBRS. "Okay then it's agreed," Travis said to the group of four, "if, at any point, something were to happen to Team RWBY. It doesn't matter exactly who, but we will tell the girls our 'origins' so to speak. Does that sound fair?"

"Yeah."

"Sure thing."

"Got my vote."

"Good," Travis was relieved this wasn't going to turn into a long night of arguing, "now I'm tired so I'm going to hit the hay."

"Yeah it's been a long day," Brandon noted rubbing his left eye.

"Some of us more than others," Sam admitted remembering his 'demonstration'.

"Oh Brandon one more thing," Travis turned to face him, "put your damn crap away. We got in this mess because someone couldn't put away his… what do you call that thing again?"

"Oh, um the Grimm Mourne," Brandon nervously smiled at the incredibly cheesy name.

Upon hearing this Travis nearly bursted into laughter, he barely managed to control himself. "The Grimm Mourne?! Oh god I thought my name was cheesy as f**k but your's take the goddamn cake!"

"Hey shut up!" Brandon nearly yelled, "You called your's XYZ you got no room to talk."

"Yes but at least doesn't sound like I'm trying too hard." Travis soon went into a laughing fit where he nearly fell flat on his ass. He was able to set himself down onto his chair where he could wipe away his tears.

Brandon walked over to his sword and put it away from where it could be seen. He slightly mumbled, "I thought it was cool."

The lights soon went down in the room and silence was the only thing in Team BBRS's room.

The Team RWBY dorm was not as quiet as the boy's dorm room, they still were going over today's events. Blake had told them what she did during the time she was following Sam.

"Really?" Yang doubted, "They're all musicians? Nothing else? Nothing sinister or dark? Nothing cool like spies, or undercover soldiers? Nothing?"

"Nothing," Blake answered much to the disgust of the group.

"Perhaps there is nothing we should worry about," Ruby told the group, "maybe we're just overthinking this."

"No," Yang was defiant in her stance, "Travis and Reese said there was something else to them. I don't know if they're lying but I intend to find out."

"There's really no stopping you?" Weiss asked the blonde.

"Nope," Yang took pride by her defiance.

From there the conversation basically ended, nothing really out of ordinary. Yang going off on what Travis said, Ruby gushing about their weapons. Weiss trying to get Ruby to shut up, and then there was Blake being Blake. Yet Blake still knew, not believed or thought but knew, that there was more to the mysterious Team BBRS. During her talks with Brandon and Sam they mentioned something that Blake found odd, and unfamiliar. It was an offhand comment that Sam made while playing his music when he made a wrong note. He said: 'What on Earth is that note?"

She just had one question: _What was Earth?_

 **And with that this chapter ends, will admit I did feel a little rushed just because I leave for a band trip tomorrow actually (coincidence?). I didn't want to leave for most of the week and not leave you guys without something. With that being said any critique would just be lovely. Anyways, see ya later suckers**


	6. Chapter 6: Between Individuals

**Author's Note: I'm back from my band trip peoples! It was fun, rainy, not to mention incredibly tiring. We had an eighteen hour bus ride going to California. Alcatraz was pretty cool though. Anyways aside from me doing a bunch of band crap, I have got a lot left on my plate before I finish my senior year of high school. I had to do a presentation on my high school career, and oh boy was I nervous. But besides that it should be smooth sailing. And now back to the story.**

Chapter 6: Between Individuals

It was a lazy day at Beacon, classes had gotten over, and the weekend soon ensued. It had been nearly three weeks since the mysterious Team BBRS arrived at Beacon. Their appearance had become a part of the daily routine for the students of Remnants, but to Team BBRS everything was still surreal. They were in another world, another dimension when you looked at it, the idea still made their skin shiver for some reason. Earth was not forgotten to them but its mention was a touchy subject that no one wanted to bring up. As far as they knew the four kids were separated from home, from their families and friends. Even of anybody came across with them it would be nigh on impossible to find them. Travis and Brandon had spent most of the entire night in the library to discuss these events. The two sat on opposite ends of the table.

"Brandon you're not listening to me!" Travis shouted in the closed library slamming his fist onto the table.

"I am listening to you Travis," Brandon countered, "which is why I think this is a bad idea. We can't just run off and go searching for people who might not even be here."

"But if they are here, Brandon, they might be in trouble. They might need our help."

"And you don't think anybody would notice our absence? If you haven't noticed Ozpin seems to know more than he's letting on. I really don't think he would overlook our being gone."

"Oh, I have taken notice on how Ozpin acts, I find it annoying the way he takes a lack approach to dangerous issues. But that still doesn't change the fact that there may be people out there, people from home, who might be out there. People like Kendra, Kylie, Franklin. Our friends, Brandon, they could be in trouble as we speak."

"And what if they are already gone?"

That last comment shut Travis up, along with Brandon. They both knew Brandon struck a chord that nobody wanted to admit to. What if those people were dead? They were still young, they haven't had many experiences with death, would they be able to handle it? The two averted their eyes and turned their heads in opposite directions. The mood in the room went from a heated debate to a sober moment. Earth was far away, they missed it. How could you not miss your home when you had virtually no way to return to it? Travis, still looking away at his team leader. "Brandon I understand your reluctance to leave, I truly do, but we can't just sit here for four years training to be something we never meant to be. We're not only lying to ourselves but we're lying to the people of this world. We were never meant to fight for these people. I wanted to be an engineer for god's sake, not some guy wielding an axe for a living. People back home could be looking for us, mourning for us, they could think we're dead and I want to prove that I am still here."

It was true, what Travis was saying, they never thought in a million years they would become fighters fighting for a world they never knew existed. Was it ideal? Not really, they had no combat experience outside of the occasional fist fight at school. Brandon was a part of the wrestling team and Travis took martial arts when he was younger, but they still didn't think that their life would revolve around fighting supernatural creatures. "Listen Travis," Brandon told the Euphonium player, "we all want to go home, no question about it, but we can't as of right now. We have no idea how we even got here, you said it yourself. That explosion on the freeway should have killed us, but it didn't. I don't know if we somehow got lucky and survived or if by some act of god we were given a second chance. I personally think it's the second option. If that turns out to be true and if others made it over then I think they were taken care of aswell."

Travis and Brandon almost seemed like two opposites at times. Brandon was more popular in school while Travis stuck to being out of sight in the spotlight. Brandon did sports while Travis was playing games. They only met because they had a mutual love of football (American football, sorry the other 98% of the world who plays soccer). In elementary school two teachers held a flag football tournament in fifth and sixth grade, because the school didn't let the kids play tack for some stupid reason. Travis and Brandon were on the same team and forced to work together. The two went to the same middle school where they both played their respective instruments, which only cemented their differences. Brandon played the Trombone, a staple of band, used in concert music, jazz, and was often featured in marches. Travis, on the other hand, played the Euphonium, and instrument that is virtually unknown by the general populous. It's focus was more on the melodic, we'll say beautiful, side of music. Better at slower music that can move you while the Trombone can make you bounce with the music. It reflected their personalities quite well. Travis was very reserved, except when talking to his friends, and Brandon was more out there and bombastic. One of the other things that the two shared was their views on religion. Travis and Brandon had gone to church for most of their lives. Travis didn't show it as much while Brandon was more open about it. He still was cautious about answering too many question and often didn't bring it up.

"Brandon I understand that you and I hold certain beliefs but I don't think this world has any form of deities here."

"And what makes you say that?" Brandon's interest was peaked by Travis' comment.

"Look at the Grimm, what deity would create something so vile?"

"Perhaps their world fell like ours?" Brandon suggested.

Travis wiped his face up and down with his palm. "Brandon you know I despise getting into a debate about religion, and I don't want to get into a heated debate about something we don't know. So can we call it a night? It's the weekend and I want to sleep in."

"Yeah sure thing," Brandon agreed standing up from his chair, "we don't need to have all the answers as of right now."

"Yes but the more we know the better," Travis and Brandon both walked out of the library, "there is one more thing I have taken notice of."

"Oh, and what's that?"

"It is Miss Belladonna, she has seem to take a large interest into us."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well for starters she followed Sam to where you were a little while back, she seemed rather keen on learning about our musicianship, I will admit they all were but she expressed more interest into it, and not to mention I've seen her keep a close ear on us."

"Hmm," Brandon scratched his chin in thought, "have you thought that it could be just you?"

"Yes there is a possibility that I may be going mad, but in this world it seems like secrets are often kept from one another."

"You're saying Blake might be holding something from us?"

"It's possible, yes, but I don't care frankly. Unless she finds out about where we come from I don't see any need to pressure her into anything. The last thing I want to do is piss off one of these people."

Travis did seem to get the overall feel the whole team felt about Beacon, it was odd. A whole school, with three other schools, dedicated towards fighting the forces of evil. It sounded like something out of a TV show. "Think of it like this," Brandon pointed out, "if the girls came to our home they would find it odd that we don't have to fight. Certain levels of technology would confuse them, our way of life would puzzle them, and not to mention the amount of sleazeballs that would hit on them would be too many for anyone to handle."

"Yes I must agree, satellites and space travel seems to be an impossible task for them. The fact that if one of their precious CCT Towers fall the whole network goes down seems like an oversight, reminds me of the Death Star from Star Wars. All it takes is one torpedo down the exhaust to blow up the whole station. I will say though, I like the Scrolls with the holographic display, it will be rough to transition back to regular smart phones again."

Brandon chuckled at Travis' last comment as they walked back to their room. It was late in the night and most of the students had gone to bed. When they entered their room Sam was already sleeping while Reese was still up buffing out a mark on his Mandalorian inspired armor. He was so focused on buffing his armor he didn't hear the two enter before Brandon practically collapsed on his bed. Reese's head suddenly jerked to the side to see the mass of Brandon laying face first into his pillow seeming to already snore. He looked to Travis who was sitting cross legged in the desk chair he often frequented. "That doesn't seem possible," Reese told Travis pointing towards the now snoring Trombone player.

Travis swiveled his chair slightly to face Brandon. "Frankly, I'm surprised I didn't do that before him," Travis quickly changed the subject, "so what have you guys been up to?"

"Eh, not much. Sam and I went down for a little bit of practice, he asked so he could get used to the recoil on that thing you made him. I didn't enjoy being target practice, he made a small mark on my armor."

"Reese you do realize that armor is supposed to get damaged."

"Yes but I would like it to stay clean as long as I can keep it," Reese kept his eyes on his armor and soon blew off some dust on it, "do we have a plan for tomorrow?"

"Just relax."

Reese paused for moment, stopping his train of thought. 'Relax'? Did Travis know what relaxation was? Reese couldn't remember a single time Travis relaxed since they had arrived in the world of Remnant. Travis had helped putting together the weapons, helped get a story story, took more notes than any other student in the school, and had to deal with Team RWBY in tight situations, and now he wants to 'relax'? "Umm Travis," Reese thought for a moment trying to word it correctly, "do you know what 'relax' means?"

"Ouch that hurts, no wonder everybody loves you," Travis snarked, "all I want is a few days where I can sit down and not worry about the troubles of this past week."

"Hm, sounds like a plan, do you care what any of do?"

"Not really, just don't do anything stupid."

"Yeah, you got that part covered."

"F**k you too Reese," Travis gave him the bird as well.

"Go to bed you're drunk asshole," Reese joked shaking his head

"It's the only way to deal with you people," Travis propped his feet on the bed and pulled a blanket over his legs before falling asleep in the chair in what looked like the most uncomfortable position.

"How these people sleep I will never know?" Reese asked himself when he was sure he was alone. His armor was soon cleaned and the last bit of light from the lamp was soon turned off and darkness soon enveloped the entirety of the Team BBRS room.

Reese's alarm set off at a bright and early eleven thirty. Groggily, he reached and slapped the nightstand trying to find the damn alarm clock as it gave off the annoying repetitive noise. Finally, he was able to silence the pestering machine with a definite slam on the top when he found its placement. Unfortunately after moving so much he was now awake and forced himself up from his bed. Rubbing his eyes he looked to find that Brandon and Sam were gone while Trav still slept in that uncomfortable position he had in his chair. _Well where did those two run off to?_ Reese thought removing his blankets. He groaned as he stood up stretching out his arms. He did crack a few bones, but not to the level that Travis did which still grossed him out. Going into the closet he pulled out his armor, these people seemed to wear their combat gear and mistook them for 'walking around clothes'. He wouldn't mind it as much if the women took a few liberties with how they dressed themselves. Most of the time it was fine but there was still those few who may have taken things a bit far in Reese's mind. It wasn't like Earth was perfect, there was always those one or two women who couldn't understand a dress code. After he assembled the majority of his armor he rolled his shoulders and stretched out his legs. While he had gotten used to the armor for the most part, it was extra weight that he was not used to wearing daily, at least he gained a bit of muscle from having to lug it. He decided not to put on the helmet just as of yet, there was no real point in putting it on yet he wasn't in combat. He opened the door quietly, waking up Travis abruptly was more dangerous than taking on a Goliath single handedly, so he didn't want to deal with his wrath.

"See you later man," Reese whispered to the sleeping Euphonium player.

Reese soon closed the door just as quietly as when he opened it. He walked out in the hall still holding his helmet about to head to the cafeteria. Reese was nearly got out of the hallway when he heard high pitched shrieking coming from behind him. He winced as his ears were in pain, he turned around to confirm his fears. He saw three classmates behind him, these same three took an interest in Reese for some godforsaken reason. "Oh my god!" One of them shrieked.

"Come on girls, let's get him!" A second one yelled, Reese could see her licking her lips "Let's see what he's like under that armor."

The comment made Reese shiver, it would make anyone shiver. A feeling crept over Reese that he hadn't felt in a long time. The feeling took over his body completely overriding his mind. Instinctively he put his helmet on and made a break for it, trying to get as far away from the 'groupies' as possible. The three girls soon went after him, it was going to be an eventful day for Reese…

The depths of the training room were filled with a familiar sound, the sound of weapons clashing against one another. However one sound drowned out the rest, a sound that was recognizable now, the sound of Sam Perish's weapon unloading its volatile blast on the poor training bots. At first the sound hurt but he naturally grew accustomed to it, what Sam still didn't grow used to was just about everything else. Living in a new and unfamiliar world, having to fight daily, listen to Travis constantly, oh and you know having a freaking cannon mounted on his arm! It was still surreal, this piece of technology that wasn't even fathomable to the general public, was less than two feet from his face at nearly all given times. A training robot got back on its feet after its primary functions came back online from the last blast and ran at the Saxophone player. It raised a fist as it tried to punch him like a drunk old man. Bringing up the cannon, which he now labeled as the 'Alto Cannon' a blast of energy rang throughout the room and the robot was sent flying into the wall. The machines were incredibly durable to withstand most of these shots seeing as how he practically vaporized a Grimm not too long ago. He could still remember those piercing red eyes, the repulsive stench of its breath, the feeling of the toes pressing into his chest. What stuck with him most was when he stabbed the beast. He had never done something as violent as that, he never went hunting or anything like that so the experience of stabbing anything was new. He wasn't sure how he felt about it, yes the Grimm were merciless, but still it was something he never had to do before. And that right there was the whole theme if you had to describe the whole situation: They have done stuff they have never had to do before. They had to fight, they had to learn about a world filled with supernatural elements, and more importantly they had to lie. Lying was not a new concept back home, but here they almost acted like escaped convicts, having to be secretive and not letting anybody on their secret. It was beginning to wear them down, all four of them including Travis who was always adamant about it, there was just no one to talk to about their problems outside of Glynda and Ozpin. Let's be honest, not trying to knock Glynda and the headmaster down, but someone of their age would be nice to talk to. Someone to spill their problems to, someone who could understand. A robot caught him by surprise as it landed a blow to the back of the head. Out of retaliation Sam pulled a blade from the Alto Cannon and lodged it into the neck of the machine causing sparks to fly. The robot fell back to the floor, and wanting not to be surprised again while in thought, he turned off the training room's system. The walls soon pulled the black blinds that made it private so people didn't feel uncomfortable when training revealing the light of the outside. Sam went back to his last thought before he was interrupted. What was that last thought again? Ahh right! Someone who he could talk. His wish was soon granted as he heard someone knock on the walls…

Brandon sat at a table in the cafeteria alone off to the wall. He was busy reading from a book, that honestly, he wasn't really paying attention to anything it said. Brandon let the information travel out on end and let it go out the other. The Trombone player was munching on a sub sandwich he got from the cafeteria, it was lunch for most people. The amount of people who attended Beacon were not that many. Then again from the way everybody made beacon out to be it seemed like an Ivy League school like Harvard or Yale back home. Very few people get to go, almost seemed like a lottery, unless Ozpin practically drafts you into the school. Originally Brandon was not keen on being forced to go to Beacon, he didn't want to tell Ozpin directly. The kid felt as if he was being forced into something, an action he hated. Brandon wanted to stretch out his experiences how he wished, not be forced into a career, but after learning the range of what a huntsman could do he grew more used to the idea. Actually all of the Team BBRS were surprisingly chill with the idea of becoming huntsman. Sam seemed to be the most resistant along with Brandon. Travis and Reese were more indifferent than reluctant, but when were those two anything but indifferent to this kind of situation. It took Sam a few days but he finally accepted what was going on, it could have been his age that caused a small rift between him and reality when Brandon thought about it. Sam was still a sophomore, he was inexperienced with the most adult of confrontation. The only reason Brandon, and Travis, had any experience with this stuff was because after June it was going to be a requirement for their daily lives. The students themselves seemed to embrace Sam which was easy, Sam was funny on a level different to Travis. Sam liked to have fun with people rather than Travis making fun of other people. Sam usually said yes to a lot of new things, and Brandon usually tagged along with him. Travis and Brandon didn't gel all too well together due to their differences in philosophy, and Reese usually hung out with Travis so they never really got to know more in depth about each other. Reese, even to this day, was still a bit of a mystery to Brandon, he knew a good deal but Reese had an air about him. Brandon's thoughts were silenced as the sight and sound of a lunch tray landing in the seat in front of him making Brandon flinch at the sight in reaction. Brandon looked up to see the four girls of Team RWBY and the entirety of Team JNPR.

"Wassup Brano," Yang called out to the Trombone player who was still a tad dazed.

"Oh, not much Yang," Brandon replied after snapping out his startled state.

The group of eight students sat down around the lone member of Team BBRS. "So Brandon," Ruby cheerfully said, "where are the others?"

"Well Sam is practicing with the Alto Cannon while Reese and Travis were still asleep when I left them this morning."

"Oh, how sad," Yang teased.

"Not really," Brandon told her returning his attention back to the book, "this is the first day I got some alone time from the group."

The two teams knew what Brandon was talking about. The private time they all enjoyed and loved was virtually non-existent, outside of times like these. "Do we need to leave?" Pyrrha asked.

"Oh, no of course not," Brandon said to the group taking in another bit of his sub, "I just need a little time from the guys."

"So then," Ren spoke breaking his usual silence, "what do you guys want to talk about?"

Before any of them could reply the doors the cafeteria swung wildly open followed by the sight of Reese, in his armor, flying like a madman into the cafeteria. Going high into the air he fired two shots at the door as three girls were about to run towards him. The shot jarred loose one of the doors and it fell off its hinges blocking the entrance. Reese knew he had to get out of here… FAST. "Reese!" Brandon yelled to him surprising Reese who slowly descended downward, "The hell are you doing?!"

Reese's breathing was heavy, he had been running for a while now. He caught his breath for a second and pointed at the doors where the three other school girls just were. "Crazy… *breath* women… *breath* wanted to do things to me."

Well this was odd, Brandon hadn't expected that kind of answer. Brandon thought Reese might owe people money, or made a bet, or maybe he even took a page from Travis' book and insult somebody. He wasn't sure how to respond, should he stop him, help him, hold him down and let them take Reese away. The last one sounded funny, cruel… but funny, but probably not the best idea since he had to spend a lot of time together and Reese seemed like the vengeful type. Brandon was about to help until the voice of one of the three girls went off again. "Come on Reese-y, we just want to love you!" Brandon felt sorry for Reese, he honestly did, these three sounded like the stalker type of women that every man generally dreaded.

Reese's head turned to the three girls who had gotten passed the makeshift barricade and Reese then turned back to Brandon. "Sorry," his scratchy radio voice communicated to Brandon, "gotta go. I'll have to explain later." Reese's jetpack flared back to life. Reese flew into the open air before jetting out a window sending shattered glass everywhere. The three girls raced past Brandon and the others, without even noticing them, then they leaped out the window to follow the Mandalorian.

Brandon slowly turned his head back to the group of eight who just stared confusingly at the Trombone player. To which he responded, "I don't know. I just show up okay."

"Well that was eventful," Pyrrha noted going back to her food.

"Yeah," Yang agreed, "it's a shame that some people can't know how good they got it. Even when they're practically begging."

Yang's eyes turned back to Pyrrha who took notice at her comment. They all knew who they meant, except for Jaune because he was an idiot. All of Team BBRS had noticed Pyrrha's affection to the blonde knight, who couldn't see how good he could have it. Brandon looked at Jaune when he talked. "Yes," he channeled his inner 'Travis' in tormenting Pyrrha, "such a shame." He then went to face the red haired woman with a large, smug grin.

You could practically hear a blood vessel in Pyrrha's head pop as her eye twitched. Jaune, finally, noticing the conversation happened took not of his partner's face. "Pyrrha if your face stays like that it might freeze," Jaune hadn't been paying attention to the previous conversation.

Pyrrha's face changed when Jaune elbowed her slightly, not much but slightly. His innocence was what she fell for, that and Jaune treated her as a person and not some kind of goddess. The Team BBRS kids did the same but they all had something about them that threw her off. Brandon, their team leader, seemed generally disinterested with her. Travis, while being incredibly gifted in intelligence, seemed to having a swearing issue that came off as unappealing. Reese was quiet and just mysterious, but after today's events she might have to ask him a few things. And she really hand't a whole lot of time to meet Sam, but he seemed cool to say the least. They all had one thing in common, aside from an unusual respect for Jaune, they were incredibly secretive. When questions came up about their past or where they came from it quickly got brushed aside or they changed the subject. She thought about asking Ozpin about it, but what place did she have when dealing with personal matters. Brandon stood up breaking her thought and he began to leave.

"Well nice chatting with you, but I got stuff to attend to," he said beginning to leave the table.

"Wait you're not going after Reese?" Weiss questioned, she was honestly confused about what happened.

"Reese can take care of himself, he's a big boy," Brandon assured the group with a chuckle following his statement. The truth was Brandon was worried about Reese. Even though he couldn't see his eyes directly Brandon could see fear in Reese's eyes. Brandon really hadn't used his weapon in legitimate combat, his name hadn't come up in the sparring rotation yet. He considered himself lucky, this gave him plenty of practice even if Travis was a bit strict in how he did it. Travis had the closest weapon style than the other two so Travis agreed to teach him a few things. There were still major differences between an Executioner's Axe and a Greatsword but they had the same general height. This was going to be the first field test of his sword, the Grimm Mourne. God, it sounded cooler on paper…

"Omigoshyoulooksocute!" Velvet said quickly while giving Sam Perish a bear hug that nearly crushed his organs.

"Velvet… please… bones… breaking," Sam barely breathed out, every nerve in his body was screaming to be let go and he swore he heard a rib crack.

"Oh," she realised what she was doing to poor little Sam, she released and he fell to the ground, with a childlike apology she muttered "sorry."

Sam caught his breath for a second, and let his ribs go back to their natural position, before speaking. "You know, you didn't have to crush me, a simple 'how's it going' would've worked."

"Aw did Velvet hurt you?" Coco teased walking up and giving him a noogie.

When Sam had opened the door a few minutes ago he had expected someone like Brandon, Reese, possibly Travis, maybe even someone from Team RWBy. But he didn't expect to see Team CFVY at the door. The team hadn't seen their rescuers since they arrived in Beacon, they were told that they interrupted a mission Team CFVY was on, and Team CFVY had to get back to their mission. "How long was your mission?" Sam realised remembering that weeks had passed since they had last seen Team CFVY.

"It really depends," Coco said, "sometimes missions can take up to two days and sometimes it can take up to two weeks. We don't leave till the job's done."

"Aren't you worried about schoolwork or anything."

"Nah man, we get excused from that stuff while we're away."

"Huh, lucky. Back home we're expected to do work either while we're gone or we have to do it afterwards." Sam tensed up for a moment, he mentioned 'home', they had conditioned themselves not to mention Earth to anybody outside of Glynda and Ozpin, he then remembered that Team CFVY knew about their situation.

Velvet noticed Sam's tensioning for a moment and got confused. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, we just try to avoid talking about home around the others."

"What 'others'?"

"Everybody but you guys, Ozpin, and Glynda."

"Really?" Yatsuhashi spoke from the end of the room standing next to Fox, "nobody else knows about your origins?"

"How would you feel if someone casually mentioned that they were from a world without huntsman and huntresses? A world without semblances and Aura? Or how about a world without the Grimm? Their head might explode."

"Did Travis convince you guys of that?" Coco asked narrowing her eyebrows. She was the first to notice how persuasive Travis could be, and by persuasive she meant 'I'm going to hold this gun to your head until you agree'. She didn't say it but Sam got the basic jist of the message.

"No, we came to that point together, Travis did mention it first but he was open to the idea of letting people know."

That honestly surprised the team leader of Team CFVY, she thought Travis forced ideas down everybody's throat, maybe she was wrong. "Well besides that have you had any trouble adjusting to Beacon?"

"No not really," he brought up the Alto Cannon, "this took some time but I've gotten used to it."

"Where did you get that?" Velvet asked pulling out a brown colored camera.

She took a picture of it and Sam had to avert his eyes from the flash, his vision returned slightly after. "Travis made it in the shop."

"He made that?" Velvet now felt a little scared at the person she saved could do.

"Yeah it took him a while, he got blasted into a wall multiple times."

"Cause that's what he needed," Coco sarcastically pointed out, "more head injuries."

"You say that but he went toe to toe with Yang for a while."

"Oh we know, we were able to watch it after a friend sent us the video. Still doesn't help the fact he's not all there," Coco had pointed to her temple multiple times.

"Well he also made himself his axe and made Brandon's sword, so at least he's good for something."

"What did… um oh what was his name again? Reese! What did Reese do?"

"Um that's going to be hard to explain."

Sam was about to until all five in the room heard some sort of screaming, more like yelling, and they all turned their attention to the outside wall. The voice boomed, "Back! Back you foul creatures! From hell's heart I will stab at thee!" Coco looked back at Sam confused as all hell, they all were confused but Coco looked more confused. Sam's ear noticed a familiar sound, it sounded like Reese's jetpack. His suspicions were quickly confirmed as Reese went face first into a wall kind of like an insec. Slowly his body descended down the wall where Yatsuhashi and Fox had been standing. Quietly he muttered, "Help me," he sounded desperate, probably a step below desperate. He noticed Sam and quickly ran in. Reese appeared even more tired than when he ran into Brandon in the lunchroom, his breathing heavy and his knees were weak from running.

"Everything okay Reese?" Sam asked, completely and uttered confused.

"Oh just fine," the percussionist snarked, "is there *deep breath* another way out of here?"

"Umm, I think so," Sam turned his body and then noticed a locked door, "ah! Over there."

"Thank god," Reese said and ran over to the door. He jostled the doorknob and it would budge, "F**K!" He yelled. Reese didn't have time for this. _Well desperate times call for desperate measures,_ he thought as he brought up his combine laser rifle. He fired multiple shots until the knob flew off. "If Glynda asks it was already like that!" Reese pointed to the knob, Reese yelled in such a manner that Sam wasn't possible for the usually calm and cool percussionists. As quickly as Reese entered the room, he swung the door open and flew out of the room, rocketing his jetpack through the hallways, the door slammed shut after bouncing back.

"What was that about?" Coco spoke for the whole group on that one, she still was looking at the door that Reese flew out of.

"I don't know," Sam replied also looking at the door.

Soon three female classmates that Sam recognized came barreling into the room. The leader of the small pack spoke. "Did you see a tall glass of armored water come by?" She was just as disheveled as Reese appeared to be.

Sam froze, out of fear mainly. He quickly understood the situation, they all did. Did Sam help his friend but possibly end up getting mauled by three hormone filled females? Or did he betray the man who could take him up hundreds of feet into the air and drop him like a rock, and he knew where Sam slept. The decision was obvious.

"Yeah he just went through that door," Coco pointed behind her to the door that had scorch marks from Reese's laser blasts.

Sam immediately turned to Coco who had a giant grin on her face, she knew what she did and Reese looked lonely to her, it might do him some good to get some was her thought. Without a second thought the three females ran past the group and violently ripped the door off its hinges. _Poor Reese,_ Sam whimpered in his mind. When they left at a pace that shouldn't have been feasible. Sam turned to the leader of Team CFVY, contemplating about attacking her but remembered the purse that transformed into a gatling gun. "Why did you do that?" Sam asked her.

"Ah it looked fun to torment Reese," she said with a laugh.

"You guys are sadistic."

"Welcome to Remnant."

Sam shook his head and chuckled at Coco. "Hey Coco," she turned her head to meet directly with Sam's eyes, "mind if I ask you something?"

Blake Belladonna was walking down the halls alone back to her room. The others will still talking to Brandon back in the lunchroom, this was her chance to dig up around the Team BBRS room. She didn't feel completely okay with doing this, but her desire to find out more was greater than her guilt. She knocked three times on the door quietly to see if anyone was still in there, no voices came from the other side. Slowly she turned the knob and opened the door, as she opened the door it creaked slightly and her face winced at the noise. When she got a good view she saw the body of Travis and nearly shut the door in response to seeing him. That's when she realized that he was still sleeping and gave a big sigh. Once again Blake cracked the door open enough so she could slip by. Their room was pretty clean, for a guy's room, a few shirts laid on the floor and the smell was acceptable, not great but acceptable. She started by looking under the beds… nothing, her attention went the closets… nothing, that's when she did a double take when she looked at the desk. There was a large rectangular shaped paper with a pencil, and another odd object she had never seen before. It was a long straight bar with a black bar at one end. As she got closer to the sheet of paper she noticed it was a blueprint of some kind. She didn't recognize what was on it, but it looked human. It almost looked like some kind of armor, after seeing Reese's armor she wouldn't be surprised. As she got closer her foot accidentally hit the leg of the chair Travis was sleeping. He began to stir from his slumber. _Oh crap!_ Her mind flared as she hastily began to make her way to the door.

"Blake?" Travis' voice weak voice asked still waking up, "what are you doing here?"

"Oh um," she began. She noticed that Trav hadn't realized what was going on yet, "Brandon said you had some notes on Oobleck's last lesson. So I tried looking for them. Sorry if I woke you."

Removing the blanket he cracked his neck and knuckles. "Don't worry, I probably should have woken up awhile ago, I had a late night." He paused trying to remember what Blake had asked for. "You said you wanted Oobleck's notes?"

 _Whew, it worked._ "Uh yeah," she said quickly, the stress was getting to her, she wanted out of there. But she still was curious about the drawing. "Can I ask what that is?" She pointed directly to the piece of paper.

Travis eyes were still deadpanned as he turned his attention to the paper and shrugged, "Ah, it's an old hobby of mine, I like to draw. Now let's see, where is that notebook." He rummaged in the drawers of the desk and pulled out a red colored notebook. It was labeled 'Important Crap'.

Blake's eyes lit up at the word 'Important'. Maybe he slipped up as he handed her the notebook. "Thanks."

"Just make sure to give it back to me."

"Will do, thank again Travis."

"Don't worry about. Gotta help a friend every now and then right?"

 _Oh you have no idea._ She thought walking out of the door. She quickly went into her room and slammed the door shut. She was about to open it when she heard someone screaming.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

She opened the door to see Reese from earlier, still running from the group of girls. _They're devoted that's for sure._ Travis opened his door and his head went one direction and then turned to the group of three girls following Reese. His head turned back to Blake. "Was that Reese?" He genuinely curious by what just happened.

"Yeah," Blake replied but she was still confused by what just happened.

"Well that was odd why would Reese…"he scratched his chin before he made a realisation, "OOOHHH! Son of a bitch! Blake can you help me for a bit?"

"Umm...sure. Why?" She didn't want to but maybe this will lead to her finding more about them.

"Wait here," he went back into his room and assembled his armor at lightning speed. With XYZ in hand he quickly came back out, "we have to go save Reese from his biggest fear."

 **Oh shit, stuffs about to go down next chapter. Sorry for leaving it at a kind of cliffhanger, especially since I just got back to writing this story. Hope you enjoyed, my apologies if you didn't. See ya later suckers.**


	7. Chapter 7: The Only Thing we have to

**Author's Note: Hey it's been awhile, I'm so sorry. Things have been crazy with school, plus this chapter was a bitch to write. I hope you're not too mad at me for not updating. This chapter will feature two of our protagonists finding their Semblances. Enjoy!**

Chapter 7: The Only Thing we have to Fear is Women

Reese didn't know how long he had been running. It felt like hours since the three girls started chasing him around school. The chase had now gone outside the school grounds, ending up in the city of Vale. The problem was the Percussionist was unfamiliar in the town. Frantically his head would make a choice without thinking of where it might lead to. In an alley he sat against the wall to catch his breath. It all started at lunch when he just wanted something to eat, now he was hungry, tired, and scared. Why was he scared? It was an instinct he thought was long forgotten. His mind then went to think about the events that had encircled this entire month. Remnant, the life he had been put into, and most of all: his friends. While they were not his closest compatriots, except for Travis the other two were acquaintances. Now he was forced to spend nearly everyday with them. Reese and the others were forced to learn combat techniques that, for them, were from the days of knights and dragons. Reese's attention then turned to his armor, he was still enamoured by the sight of it, a large part of mind still couldn't believe what he doing. He picked up one of pistols and looked into it, his helmet reflecting off the silver surface. _Well Reese nice job. You're stuck in another world, separated from your family and closest friends, and you're wearing Star Wars armor. Anything else you think I should do before I get mauled by three hormone fueled women?_ His head suddenly snapped up to the roof and a smile crept under his helmet. That's when the three girls from before finally caught up.

"There he is!" One of them yelled. The other two caught up with their fellow lover in arms.

Reese however seemed to calm his nerves as his jetpack flared to life as he assisted the device by leaping off the walls to get to the roof. _Well when in Rome._

Blake had been silent the whole time she had been following Travis while looking for Reese. She had told him that Reese was being chased by girls and Travis looked like he was going to kill something. The two had been running over the whole school looking for the Percussionist from Earth. Everywhere they went Travis simply asked if they had seen a man in weird armor being chased by three women.

"And you're sure?" Travis asked talking to yet another person who had no clue.

"'Fraid not, sorry man."

"Ahh it's no big deal," Trav walked away to the silent girl. "Nothing dammit."

Usually everybody had an issue with Travis' cursing and colorful use of the language. In this case, though, he was entitled to using them. He ran his hand over his chin and back again multiple times sighing heavily as it was all wearing on him. Travis had been enjoying a peaceful nap before waking up and seeing Blake in his room. He had been tired for the majority of this week, he had been getting massive headaches which he assumed came from some stress. A pain surged into his head and he massaged his temple as another headache came reminding him to pick up some aspirin soon. Travis sat down on a bench still comforting his head as he gave another sigh, Blake simply followed him but remained standing. Travis looked to the courtyard, Blake off in his peripheral, and sighed yet again, he was full of those.

"So what do we do now?" Blake asked genuinely concerned for both Travis and Reese. The two shared some kind bond, Brandon and Sam seemed to have the same bond, a bond that any other combination of the Team BBRS kids didn't seem to share.

Travis ran his hand over his face. "I don't know. I haven't seen Reese do this in a long time."

"He's done this before?"

"Yeah it was a year back when I first met him. We didn't know each other a lot back then. While we both worked in the metal shop I worked with the advanced kids my second year while Reese was a newby and worked with the younger kids. I really didn't get to know him until the next year."

"Wait how old are you guys?" Blake became confused as more details about their past came to light. The main reason why she took an interest into them was to find out more about them and she was getting what she wanted.

"Me and Brandon are the same age, separated by four months. I'll turn eighteen later in the spring. Reese is a year younger than us putting him at seventeen years. And Sam is the youngest by two years, the same age as Ruby."

"And you all attended combat school together or something?" That was the only logical answer for why the Team BBRS kids were so close, they carried a sense of comradery not seen by most of the other teams including some the older groups.

"No not really. I knew Brandon when we were kids but he moved away with his family with a traveling village. I didn't see him again until my last year which is when he transferred and was able to skip to my year due to his abilities. Yes, Reese and I officially met in combat school but I worked a part time job at a shop where I helped Reese make his original weapon."

"What about Sam?" The curious cat asked.

"Hmm Sam was an odd case. The guy was raised outside the kingdoms," Blake's attention was immediately grabbed. _Just like me?_ Travis went on. "From what he's told me, his village met the same faith as so many others, obliteration. Sam recalled to us the first time he had seen a Beowulf, the guy fainted apparently. How fast they grow. Other than that he hasn't said too much about his past" Blake wanted to know more, but Travis couldn't keep up the elaborate lie for long. Sooner or later he would slip. And he didn't want to tell her just yet. The Euphonium player got up from the bench and cracked his back with an 'Oh God'. "Come on, we need to keep searching."

"But we haven't gotten anything, maybe we should just wait for him to come back."

Travis' head immediately turned to face Blake. "No!" The man practically growled. "I won't let this happen to Reese again! I've seen what can happen to him and in this environment it might lead to catastrophic consequences!"

 _Again? Catastrophic consequences? What's going on?_ She didn't have time to ask as Travis began to jog over to a group of people asking them for questions. She followed after the axe wielder going off into another direction.

"Yeah sure thing man," Coco replied to Sam's question rather quickly stunning the kid.

"Wait really?" Sam couldn't understand.

"Of course why do you have to ask us that?" Coco laughed off taking her glasses off to wipe a smudge on the lens.

"Well it's usually customary back home to ask them before doing it."

"Dude you're asking if your team can sit with us. We don't care all too much, so long as Travis doesn't say anything that makes us look bad we should be good." Sam replied with a stare that said, _c'mon it's Travis_. To which Coco replied. "Okay fine, Travis can say a few things but there will be a quota!"

"How about this? We'll get him a swear jar."

"Ahh perfect!" Coco agreed as the rest of Team CFVY laughed with Sam, even Fox looked like he was laughing but it was heard to tell.

"If I may," Yatsuhashi spoke with a polite bow, "have you thought about the tournament?"

"What tournament?" Sam was confused.

"The Vytal Festival Tournament," the green giant simply replied.

"Ohh yeah," Coco noted, "you guys should totally try doing it."

Sam vaguely remembered hearing about this tournament, but it came from Travis' mouth. Anything that came out his mouth sounded like the teachers from Charlie Brown to the Saxophone player. "Mind running me through that again?"

"The Vytal Festival Tournament is a gathering of the best teams from the academies. They fight in a large tournament where you are pitted against each other. It start as a four versus four, then goes to a two versus two, and finally a one on one fight for victory," Yatsuhashi explained.

"OOH!" Sam exclaimed raising a finger as something in his mind clicked, "It's like the Olympics!" The four members of Team CFVY looked at him with confusion at whatever these 'Olympics' are. "Oh sorry, not on Earth," he banged his weapon on his head, "the Olympics are an event held every two years taking the best athletes from numerous countries to compete in athletic events. We change every two years between a Winter Olympics and a Summer Olympics."

Their curiosity grew. "When you say athletic events," Velvet paused placing her chin on her hand in contemplation, "do you mean like running?"

"Yeah! At least in the Summer. They range from running, swimming, shooting, gymnastics, volleyball…" he continued to go down a basic list of some of the events in the Olympics.

After he finished his list Coco realized something about their world. "You guys are really laid back aren't you?"

"Kind of yeah, it helps when you don't have supernatural monsters clawing at you every waking moment," he joked pointing out the strangeness of Remnant from the Team BBRS perspective.

"Well fine if you want to put it like that," Coco stated in her usual charismatic way. She paused for a while before coming to new idea. "Want to do some training?"

The very thought sent shivers down his spine. He had remembered Coco's weapon and the thought of being bludgeoned by a purse was not amusing. Then again, he was the worst fighter on the team, Travis and Reese being the two strongest with Brandon not too far off in skill and being greater in pure strength. Sam, though, had no experience really in fighting, like at all. Thankfully he hadn't been called up to spar, the only time he really ever used the weapon were in training rooms like these and the one time he had to give demonstration in Port's class that didn't end too well. _What could a little beatdown do?_ "Okay," he turned the Alto Cannon's charging mechanism that began to glow bright blue, "you know the old saying. No pain no gain."

Coco smiled and grabbed her purse transforming it into the gatling gun. Sam began to question his decision. "Perfect, let's get started."

 _Mother,_ the Saxophonist whimpered.

Reese stood on a rooftop, it was now getting late, the sun setting in the distance. He took a minute to catch his breath, he still hadn't been able to calm down. His body ached for him to stop, every step he would take made his legs scream in agony. Reese's breathing soon went normal and calm compared to the frantic and quickness ragged breaths he had been forced to take all day. The domed helmet he wore soon came off as he wiped the sweat off his face. What he would do for a bottle of water. The Mandalorian stared into his face which was reflected by the black visor. What would his friends think if he had the ability to tell them about this? Would they be shocked? Surprised? Jealous? That last one made him think. What would somebody do in his shoes? Somebody stuck in this crazy world? Would they have been able to do what he was doing? Would they have the strength? Would they be able to deal with Travis' antics? He didn't know the answers to most, the last one was most definitely 'no'. Reese then thought about something Travis had told him the other day.

" _God I've been dealing with this headache for a few days now_."

Reese didn't think much about it but Travis had told the group to take note on any abnormalities. Travis was always taking notes on something it seemed. The slight variation of metals, Grimm behavior, Aura, and Semblance. The last one made Travis incredibly curious, they all were curious. On this planet you had the ability to have a superpower, in their interpretation. Reese stared down at his hand rotating. What the hell could he do? Team BBRS had seen a multitude of Semblances ranging from Yang's power increase to Ruby's super speed. Not to mention the poor sod who used and electric based move on Nora, the kid was in the infirmary for a good solid weak. Reese laughed as his mind remembered Nora's evil grin and the type of attack she unleashed. It was a little below the belt, but hey, you gotta do whatcha gotta do to win. Reese sighed as he put his helmet back on, the interfaces in the black slit coming alive. A light blue glowed slightly as multiple scanners combed the area. It wasn't a fancy piece of technology, he was no programmer, the only thing it did was calculate aura levels and was linked to a Grimm database. He read multiple people trying to find the crazed girls who were hunting him down to do unspeakable things to the poor Mandalorian. The general population stayed a mellow green color that showed their Aura had not been awakened, some had the bright glow of orange and red which was what Reese was looking for. But it was when he heard footsteps from behind him that fear and dread crept its way into every fiber of his being. He felt something wrap around him, like a lasso or rope, he strained to let go as he knew what was going to happen next.

"Oh come on Reese," one of the girls begged as she began to pull the rope in. He struggled to take steps away as he grunted with each placement of his feet. "We just want to get to know you."

 _Yeah and little too much of me,_ he couldn't say it as he was too preoccupied with the current task. He then heard the other voices and steps of the two other emotion filled women. Fear was now the only thing on his mind, he wanted to escape, but he couldn't get away. The rope wouldn't budge as all he struggling was beginning to tucker him out. He felt two of them go to his sides and pick him up.

"Come on big boy," Reese shuddered as he turned to see a brunette with a hunger in her eyes. Honestly she was beautiful but if she wasn't going this far to get him he might've said yes to an actual date. She hooked his arm to hers and lifted up.

"Reese-y~" The blonde to his left said in a singsong voice that only increased his fear. She too lifted the Percussionist in the air. He was now helpless and he looked down.

Reese's fear had overcome every sensation in his body. But it soon took a turn for the worse. The fear began to shift itself, into a worse emotion: anger. Reese became angry for no other reason than having to deal with this shit. All he wanted was to be left alone. Was that too much to ask? After the last time something like this happened Travis had promised to be there for him. And where was he? Napping, that's where he was. The anger began to surge through his body as it got warm, almost hot.

The brunette took notice of Reese getting warmer to the touch. "Oh are we warming up to us my little peanut butter cup?~"

Reese didn't even hear her voice as the anger began to feel like blistering heat. His arms were in pure pain as they got warmer. All he could think about was escaping, running like he always did.

Nothing else mattered. And that's when it happened.

Reese's right suddenly ignited itself, as if it had spontaneously combust. Reese didn't notice but the girl did as she saw his the entirety of his armored right arm lit quickly let go as the fire was beginning to burn her arms. Reese's head shot violently toward the direction of the blonde and his left arm, too, ignited like his right. She screamed and let go as Reese grabbed the bindings of the rope on his chest, the quickly shriveled in the heat and were left black and frayed. Without thinking Reese immediately bolted from the roof and jumped using the jetpack in small burst only so he could carry himself roof to roof. The three girls were stunned at what just happened.

"Did he just?" One stared off looking towards the now diminishing silhouette of Reese Martins.

"Ignite himself?" The one now with the now useless rope asked.

Reese didn't even acknowledge what had just happened until he got to a secluded part of the town, his arms still on fire. This got him multiple looks from the pedestrians for a few moments but the townspeople quickly shrugged it off as 'huntsman stuff'. When the adrenaline high wore off Reese looked down at his hands for a second, looked his head up, his eyes shot from behind his helmet, and his head immediately went to look at his burning appendages. Frantically he waived his arms around like a madman trying to extinguish the flames. "Son of a bitch!" He yelled so loud probably Earth could hear him. He did this for a few minutes until he realised… it didn't hurt, like at all. Holding his arms in front of him, the flickering light reflecting off his helmet, he noticed that he didn't feeling any burning or anything of the sort. He took off his helmet and touched his face with his right hand to test out a theory. _Nope, no pain, so either I lost all my nerve or it might be something else._ Reese then was reminded of what he had learned from Ozpin, Glynda, and even a book Travis had gotten from the library. The all had one thing in common: Semblance. Only on thing was on his mind when he made the realization.

"Holy shit," his breath was ragged, his hands trembling as the flames dissipated, "I gotta call Travis."

He had never been more surprised in his life, and he crossed over dimensions for god's sake.

Jaune Arc went walking through the halls, nightfall approached, one thing until he had to rest. Training. Ever since the Forever Fall incident he had been training with Pyrrha to further hone his skills as a huntsman, which he desperately needed. His blade dangling from his side with every step he took. The blonde eventually got to the roof where his partner was waiting.

"Hello Jaune," her singsong voice greeted, "ready to get started?"

"Yeah Pyr," he greeted.

"Okay let's start with basic stances…"

The night was then filled with the sounds of clashing swords, heavy breathing, and laughing, mainly from Pyrrha. The thing was those two were not alone. More often than not, Jaune would see something glimmering in the distance, which led to him being taken down. Pyrrha eventually noticed Jaune's attention was being caught by something and she lowered her sword turning around. From a good distance away there was a single student practicing with what appeared to be some kind of sword. Normally they would have turned back and continued with their training but something about the student felt familiar…

"Is that-? Jaune squinted trying to make out who the student was.

"Brandon?" Pyrrha finished. Yeah it was the leader of Team BBRS, practicing in the night, no wonder he had been tired the previous nights. She thought about going over to talk with him, but what about their training? Maybe Brandon didn't want to talk to them? No of course not, Brandon was the nicest out of the bunch. But maybe he didn't like being disturbed? The shy part of Pyrrha was beginning to show and she turned slightly to ask Jaune the obvious question. "Jaune do you maybe want to go-" As she turned she noticed that Jaune was already making him way towards him. Jaune was always such a friendly person and the Team BBRS members seem to share a certain connection with the blonde haired leader.

Jaune watched in a bit of awe as Brandon stood alone training in the night, only the glow of the Tower lighting the outside. Jaune didn't know it but the team leader of Team BRRS was wielding what he called the 'Grimm Mourne', god it sounded better on paper. It was a great sword, about five feet long (1.524 meters), done in a medieval style fashion. The blade was a shining silver with two black brips being separated by a curved crossguard going out about eight inches (0.2032 meters). The two grips were wrapped in a black wrappin that had the ends slightly dangled off. The wraps were done in such a way that you could see the inside of the sword was blocked by a white metallic handle. The edges of the crossguards were colored a blood red that almost seemed impossible to see in the night but briefly showed themselves. Honestly, the name the kind of fit, it was colored like creatures of Grimm. Brandon himself was probably the most casual in his choice of apparel, it wasn't that hard to look normal. Travis looked like an armored knight, Reese was a spaceman, and Sam had a cannon that latched onto his arm. Brandon, though, chose to clothe himself much like many on the natives of Remnant chose. He wore a black and dark brown checkered plaid shirt with the sleevers ripped off, a black shirt was underneath the plaid shirt. The replacement came in the form of black sleeves going over his arms with layered armor running over the black sleeves. The armor itself was nothing to gawk at, it looked like the plating you would see on an armadillo or insect, but it flexed perfectly with his movements. Blue jeans covered his legs along with a pair of Romeo boots that had already seen a bit of use if the discoloration was anything to go by.

The two teenagers peared through a window close by and saw exactly what Brandon was doing. He was standing still, the Grimm Mourne standing straight up in his hands, the calm and serene scene could be captured on photo. Then he opened his eye, a ferocity neither of them had seen before surged through his eyes. He flipped the blade so it faced downwards and raised it in an uppercut like motion. As the blade reached the peak of its ascent he brought it down until his elbow was fully extended. The sword laid straight in front as he looked to the wall, just staring for what seemed like an eternity to the spartan and knight. Then he went to simple strikes. He started with downwards slashes, then moved to slightly angled slashes till he went to full on horizontal cuts. When he stopped the only thing Jaune and Pyrrha heard was a muffled voice. The red haired girl pressed her ear closer to the wall. It sounded like orders, or commands, she pressed her ear closer and nearly broke the wall out of sheer curiosity.

"What do you think it is?" She asked her partner still focusing on the voice from beyond the wall.

"Umm Pyrrha," Jaune said pleasantly.

"I mean is there somebody else there that we didn;t notice?"

"Umm Pyrrha," the blonde repeated.

"Or maybe he's crazy and talking to himself?"

"Pyrrha," Jaune said loud enough this time to pry her from the wall. Pyrrha turned and saw Jaune pointing to the door where there was a certain Brandon poking his head out looking at the other two.

"Oh!" The champion exclaimed backing away from the wall. "I'm sorry," she apologized in her classic tone.

The Trombone player waved it off and smiled. "Don't worry about it," he was unusually calm about the who eavesdropping thing, "it's fine."

Jaune replied with a bit of shock. "Wait really?"

"Yeah, why not?" Brandon gave them a rhetorical question, " Not like I was doing anything stupid. I was just practicing."

"Well yeah but why did we hear a voice from the other side?" Jaune asked.

"Oh that?" Brandon brought up his scroll and revealed a still frame of Travis' face in their room.

He pressed the play button on it and Travis began to move like a real person. "Okay so next," the recording of Travis in their room went on as if nothing had changed, "you'll want to focus on single handed maneuvers. We'll start with doing a single handed flourish. Taking your dominant foot forward about a foot out, maybe more it depends on you, I want you to start making an 'X' pattern with your blade and continue to do this until it feels natural. I don't really care at what speed you do this, it's up to you. This helps in two cases. One: if you're trying to overpower an opponent you can approach them when they're down and try to overload their brain with the multitudes of moves you can use from this current position. Or two: you can do this to confuse your opponent with the ambiguity of the rotations. I personally prefer the first option but we're not here to discuss my fighting, we're here to further hone your skills. Moving on-" Brandon then paused the video and returned his scroll to the pocket in his jeans.

Jaune and Pyrrha were both nodding at this, it was a nice way of doing training. Pyrrha made a mental note to do the same thing later. She then decided to speak. "So you were just out here, by yourself?"

"Yeah," he stated matter of factly, "is there an issue with that?"

"Oh, oh no," Pyrrha realized she said the wrong thing, "it's just that usually you have your teammates around you."

"Well Reese hasn't come back since we saw him at lunch-"

"Oh yeah," Jaune interrupted, "do you know what was with that?"

"No," he replied," now getting back before I was interrupted, Travis apparently went off to find Reese so I'll trust Travis in doing so. And I have no clue where Sam has been at all today."

"So you just have been alone? All day?"

"Yeah, unlike you we need a ton of time apart." Jaune was confused if that was an insult or a compliment. His face twisting as he thought hard about it. "And yes that is a compliment," Brandon confirmed for the knight in training.

There was an awkward pause in the hallway. Did Pyrrha and Jaune stay? Did they leave? "Brandon," Jaune offered a hand, "do you want to train with us?"

The Trombone player tilted his head slightly to think about. "Eh why not? Sounds like fun, at least I don't have to deal with Travis' annoying voice on loop."

This caused snickers from the two teenage warriors. "You guys are so mean to Travis," Pyrrha punched Brandon in the shoulder.

Brandon began to laugh lightheartedly for a few seconds. "Yeah when you deal with Travis everyday for long periods of time you will want to punch the bitch in the mouth." The group then walked off together, Brandon placed the Grimm Mourne in a sheath attached to his back. A silence filled the three for a while, they never usually got to talk alone, they whole dozen of people usually filled the air with small talk. "So," Brandon started, the so going on for a long time, "how are you?"

Sam felt his whole body hurt as he got flung into the wall. An imprint of his body now dented in the wall of him in a cartoon-like appearance. _Ow, I hurt… all over._ Perhaps training with Team CFVY wasn't the best idea. They were above Sam's first year status and they were native to Remnant, while he was from Earth a planet without any of this. He peeled himself from the wall while giving out the longest groan of pain, small bits of rock falling on his head. Sam quickly brushed the dirt and rubble from his hair and readjusted his glasses. The Saxophonist looked up to see a two man squad, the same one that's been kicking his ass. Velvet and Fox. Coco thought it would be better to put these two in because of how they all fight relatively similar. Sam looked to his Alto Cannon and began the charging sequence, that's when Velvet charged in. She took a quick step and then flipped while kicking upward. Sam blocked the kick, this time, he was tired and his breathing grew heavy. He barely noticed Fox come in from the side and deliver a blow to his kidneys. Sam winced in pain as the shock caused him to fall over to the side. His body was in pain from the relentless beatdown he had received from the two members of Team CFVY. Fox took a step back while Velvet walked up to the Saxophone player and knelt down.

"Are you okay?" She asked concerned for Sam's well being, "We can stop now if you want?"

Sam lowered his head and began to take deep breaths. He didn't say anything and seemed to completely ignore the rabbit faunas' question. Sam heard a clicking sound come from his arm and gave a small smile while still taking large breaths. Before Velvet could react he grabbed her arm and spun her around. The sudden shift in momentum made the girl lose her guard as Sam aimed down the sights of the Alto Cannon and fired a smaller, more controlled blast. The same sound of strumming guitar strings filled the air as the bolt of energy collided with Velvet's back, giving off the same guitar rip sound. Unlike with what happened to the Grimm when hit with the weapon Velvet's Aura took the hit, but the shield was greatly damaged by the collision of energy. It sent her flying forward at a wicked pace, but being the agile girl she was she simply flipped off the wall with ease. Velvet got her bearings back in order and faced the still smiling Saxophone player, he was still taking deep breaths and he looked a little unsteady.

"There's still a little fight in me," he muttered just barely loud enough for them both to hear.

Fox replied by charging at him at a speed, where in his tired, Sam barely had enough time to react. Sam fired two restrained bolts of energy at the red bladed warrior, both missing as Fox jumped over one and quickly sidestepped to avoid the other. Sam prepared himself for the oncoming strike by having the two blades of the Alto Cannon jut out making the advanced cannon like a glorified pitchfork. While Fox had plenty of momentum on his side Sam somehow stopped him when their two blades collided. They stood interlocked as the opening in the blades caught Fox's right blade. Fox retaliated by bringing up his left arm only to be grabbed by Sam's corresponding arm. What Sam didn't notice was that this was planned. Velvet vaulted off of Fox's shoulders, did a flip so she was facing downwards, and brought Sam to the ground with a punch to his face. The two weapons disconnected and Fox, now free, went in to finish the kid. As Sam was turning around he took another jab from Fox, and another, a third, it was after that he went in for the 'kill'. Fox took a minute for Sam to bring up his stance once again and ran at him. As Sam was about to thrust his two blades Fox grabbed Sam's right arm and used it to leap over him. Before Sam could think he felt a kick thrust him forward right into the foot of a kicking Velvet. Sam sprawled backwards and felt Fox punch him in the chest where he was raised above slightly. Fox them brought him back down by slamming Sam's body into the ground. _Ow,_ was all Sam could muster from his mind. He was going to be sore in the morning.

Velvet came into his view, although it was odd seeing her head off to the side as his focus was on the light fixture above. "I think we're done here."

"I think so," came the voice of what he assumed to be Coco. His suspicions were correct as the team leader came into view across from Velvet. She pulled down her glasses to get a better look. "You okay squirt?"

It took Sam a few seconds to reply as every fiber in his body was going nuts over the massive pain he was in. "Perfect, everything hurts." Sam soon felt his body being yanked upward and his felt like it was going to fall off. "Augh!" Sam exclaimed and turned to see who pulled him up. It was Yatsuhashi, he honestly couldn't think of anything to say, he didn't need to start something new by pissing off the giant. "At least say something next time," he said rotating the shoulder that was pulled. Sam looked to his left arm and expelled the rest of the energy made by the Alto Cannon and shut off the weapon. The blue glowing lights dimming down and the barrel turning to a dark cavern. He stood for a good long time while taking in deep breaths as Coco patted him the back.

"Aw ya did good kid," she said in her charismatic tone.

"Thanks I'll make sure to send you a gift basket," the cannon wielder shot back still breathing hard.

Sam then felt the next pat turn into a full on slap, he was expecting the purse from hell to crush him, but even Coco has a soft side. "Oh, Sam you better be careful with that mouth. You might end up like Travis one day."

"Right now that ain't looking like a bad idea," he stood up and placed his hand over his chestplate, he was still in a lot of pain, and his muscles were tired beyond belief.

"You gonna be okay?" Yatsuhashi asked politely.

"I'll be fine," Sam reassured before he took a step. When he took that step his whole body gave out and he fell face first into the floor. "Ow," his voice was muffled by the floor and he turned his head up to them, "I think I need assistance."

"You sure?" Coco joked.

"'I've fallen and I can't get up'," Sam mocked an elderly person's voice and Coco shrugged while sighing.

"Yatsu pick him up," she ordered placing her fingers on her forehead while shaking her head.

Yatsuhashi grabbed Sam once again and slung him over his shoulder just like when they met. "Heh, just like old times," Sam joked he then felt his stomach hurt as the armor on Yatsu's shoulder dug into him, "annnnd everything hurts again."

"Well if it makes you feel better, I think you did fine," Velvet said giving a reassuring smile as they began to walk the halls.

"Thanks," Sam said and then turned to Velvet, "it means a lot."

"Yeah I bet," Coco said while walking in front of the group, "you guys couldn't fight over a month ago and now you guys seem to be a little competent."

"I am the worst you know, Travis seems to have a handle on what he's doing and Brandon is familiar with general fighting. And Reese has guns, those always work."

"Well for what it's worth you might end up being better than you think."

"I'll keep that in mind when I don't need assistance walking my way back to my room. No offense Yatsu."

"None taken," he replied.

"Hey no pain no gain," Coco shot back.

"Yes but do you gain anything when your whole body is in pain?"

"Hmm good question, let me get back to you on that," Coco followed with a laugh.

"F**k you."

"Hey, watch the language."

"I'm in pain, I'll use whatever damn language I damn well please."

"Yatsu, you can set him down now."

The green giant complied and began to drop Sam, like literally drop him, until the Saxophone player hung on for dear life itself. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Let's not get hasty. I can try to clean up my language!" Sam was honestly scared knowing how bad his legs were working.

Coco walked up and went to Yatsu's back where Sam's face was. "Good," she said with please, "we'll start getting that out of you when the four of you join us for lunch tomorrow."

"Yeah good luck with changing Travis, I don't think he's gone a day without cursing since he left the hospital," images of a baby Travis spouting out curse words came into Sam's mind. Sam wanted those images to leave quickly.

"We'll find a way," Coco assured with a devious smile, "ain't that right Velvet?"

"Um," Velvet jumped up slightly, "what are you doing Coco?"

"Ah, don't worry I'm just pulling your leg, we'll beat it out of him."

"The guy wields an axe, can hotwire a car, and god knows what else he could do," Sam thought it would be good to list out all of Travis' skills since they might prove a problem if they were going to 'beat it out of him'.

"Oh, don't worry," Coco seemed sure of what she was planning, "I got a plan. I mean what can he do?"

It was days like these that Travis wished he took up drinking. Yes the legal age on Earth was twenty one in the United States, but his mother had quite the collection of moonshine. Him and Blake had been searching for Reese for hours and nightfall was approaching. One of bullhead pilots had told them someone matching Reese's description had taken a ride into the city. The two had made it to the city and had scaled most of it, but they were beyond tired. Blake sat on a bench while Travis leaned up against a lamppost while they both were breathing heavily. Travis spat on the ground multiple times, another one of his disgusting habits besides cracking his bones and cursing, he was beginning to create a tiny puddle of his saliva.

"Son of a bitch *Spit*. Well you ready Blake?" He asked the huntress in training.

"Yeah just give me another minute," she breathed out giving him a slight wave of her hand.

"Try not to take too long, Reese needs us."

Blake pulled her head up to look at Travis. "What exactly happened to Reese for him to become like this?"

You could see Travis' face cringe when Blake asked the question. Did he tell her? Did he not? Could they trust her with Reese's most important, and arguably as embarrassing, secret? What would Reese do if he were in a similar position? "Reese," Travis started, "suffers from a rather odd fear."

"Women?" Blake questioned looking confused.

"Somewhat. Reese suffers from the fear of being chased by a group of women. I don't know the exact details but whenever Reese gets chased by multiple women his heart rate increases, he becomes unpredictable, and runs away faster than I've seen any person run."

"How many women does it take to trigger this?" The natural question to follow Travis' explanation.

"From what I've seen anything more than one."

"..."

"..."

"Umm Travis?"

"Yes, yes I know that means that all it takes is two women to chase Reese off for him to become delirious. It seems to be his crippling flaw. I just hope he's okay," Travis' last line was filled with more sincerity than Blake thought possible for the crass axeman. "I promised him that I would stop this from happening again. And I failed him" Travis' face then began to turn away as he felt like a failure, a failure of a friend, a failure to Reese. He had promised Reese to help him in these times, Reese had done more for Travis than any of the people of Remnant really knew and Travis felt powerless to help when this all started.

He felt a hand go on his shoulder and his face quickly turned to see Blake Belladonna consoling him, a small and uplifting smile on her face. At this point she didn't want to muster any more information out of Team BBRS. One of them had enough trust to ask her to help them in a difficult time, they had enough trust in their friends, maybe she should show some trust towards them too. "It's going to fine Travis," Blake reassured the green armored figure, "we'll find Reese. We just have to keep looking."

The words seemed to hit Travis in the right spot. He stood from the lamppost and readied his weapon as it spun in his hands. "Well then, let's get going." Almost on cue Travis felt the buzzing of something in his pocket. He pulled out his Scroll and noticed the caller I.D. "It's Reese!" He said while Blake gave him a ' _what?'_ look. "Reese where the f**k are you? We've been looking for you- Wait what's that? Your where? Oh ok got it, I'm on my way. See ya there buddy. What was that? You have something to tell me? Ah it can wait till later." He then ended the call and placed the Scroll back into his pocket and noticed Blake's look, which was more or less a bit angrier than it was seconds ago. "What?" Travis didn't catch on.

"You mean to tell me? That you had Reese's number? And you didn't think to call him at all during our little searc?!"

Travis' face completely went into ' _oh shit'_ mode when Blake pointed out Travis' key flaw in his plan. _Yeah it probably would have been easier to call Reese, damn I'm an idiot._ "You know what? You can kill me and do awful things to me later. Right now we got to find Reese before they do." Travis was making a pointing motion to a group of girls that looked eerily familiar. Blake remembered them as the three girls who had chased Reese.

The bad part was that they remembered Blake, not really Travis. "Ohmigosh," the brunette said, "she was there and talked to Reese, she must be after him as well!" Blake cringed at what the brunette was insinuating. Blake had no interest in Reese, and Team BBRS as a whole. She was about to confront them until Travis grabbed her arm and made a break for it by running into traffic. The two jumped over hoods and weaved in and out of cars suddenly stopping only to honk their horn in agitation. Eventually they lost the group of mad girls but they didn't slow down. They had to get to Reese before _they_ did.

The two eventually got to where Reese said he was at, an alley in the shady side of town.

"Reese," Travis quietly called out, "Reese where are you?"

Travis waited a bit before he heard the shifting of something behind the dumpster. He saw the domed, rust colored Mandalorian helmet Reese made stand up from the dumpster. "Is that you Travis?"

"Yeah man don't worry it's me," Travis slowly walked over, not making any sudden movements. Reese could be like a cornered animal in this state.

"Is there anyone else with you?" He asked angling his head searching the street.

"Just Blake, she offered to help me," Travis was still walking closer, "now come on, let's go back to Beacon and we can put this behind us."

"Do you know if _they_ left?"

"We were able to get away from them, but I don't know if they're close by, so we need to hurry."

"Umm Travis?" Blake said from behind the him.

When Travis turned he saw the three girls had caught up to him. "Aw, son of a bitch," Travis facepalmed, "don't you have anything better to do then torment my friend over here?"

"As far as I'm concerned you don't get much of a say in the matter," the blonde haired girl answered, "unless you're his boyfriend?"

Travis just about burst into tear with laughter. "What?! *more laughter* you think me and him are a couple?! *laughter* (at this point everybody is staring at him) oh sweet baby back ribs that's a riot! Maybe instead of huntresses you should try comedy as a career path!" The three girls were unamused by Travis' antics and readied their weapons as a way to tell him to 'move along'. Travis didn't budge, his laughter stopping and a serious face replaced the smile. "Well then if we are going to do this…" XYZ detached from the magnets on his back holding the axe. He spun it in his hand until he gripped the handle and prepared for combat. "Blake," she was in a battle stance and her head slightly turned to his direction, "protect Reese, he's tired. I'll take care of these broads."

"Travis-" Blake began.

"Blake, please," Travis interrupted, "I have a promise to fulfill." With that Blake understood and leaped back to stand in front of Reese who rested his back against the wall and grabbed one of his blasters.

The third girl, who had green colored hair (it was an odd world to say the least), charged first armed with two swords that doubled as a double barreled shotgun. Travis blocked the first strike which came from above using the majority of the handle to block it. Travis shifted his weapon to the side to block the other strike from the sword. Still in the air the women used the swords as leverage to leap off him and assemble the two swords into her shotgun and fired two shots. Travis spun the axe in a circle and blocked most of the spray of dust bullets, he didn't really have a handle on the whole 'Matrix blocking bullets ability' these kids seem to possess. Travis was going to run up to intercept her fall until the blonde had come in with a handheld axe and swung at Travis. He took most of the hit but was able to stand his ground and released a wide slash and he blonde got knocked to the side. As the green haired girl came in closer he flourished the axe at a speed that allowed the bladed part of the weapon connect with her stomach. She quickly hit the ground, hard, and did a small bounce as if she aspired to be rubber. The blonde came back in with multiple strikes ranging from downward slashes to swinging it like a baseball bat at him. Travis was able to block all these hits and sent the pommel, or the bottom of the axe, into her jaw. She was lifted into the air slightly and Travis brought the broad side of the axe immediately on her head sending her back to the ground. The brunette, who had stayed away from the fight mostly, now joined in with a scepter-staff/Dust thingy and summoned a gust of wind to nearly blow Travis off his feet. The armor at the bottom of his feet scraped against the ground and brought forth small amounts of sparks until Trav threw the axe blade into the wall so he would stop moving. The gust stopped and Travis got an axe full of hurt as the blonde seemed to recover from her last hit. As Travis regained his composure the green haired girl went in with multiple strikes that all connected as Travis was still trying to get back on his feet so to speak. The brunette then went in using the staff to jab relentlessly at the knight. Travis tried to block some of the hits, and he did for a few, but the others were too fast for him to block. A final, three pronged, attack was what did him in. The axe from the left, the swords from the right, and the scepter from the middle. Travis felt his body hit the metal dumpster with a resounding *thud*. Travis was defeated.

"Well that wasn't too hard," the green haired girl said, "I thought he would be harder to fight."

"Ah don't worry about him," the brunette, the obvious leader, told her partner, "he's just as weak as the rest of them." A hungry look seeped into her eyes. "Now let's get our prize. All we have to do is remove this girl."

Travis heard that last comment and felt a surge of pain enter his head as, yet again, another headache pounded his brain. Really?! A headache at a time like this?! He had bigger things to focus on. Travis was not just furious, he was pissed. Pissed beyond belief. He did not come to this damn world, with its f*****g problems, only to let his friend, his only true friend that knew him better than anyone else, fall to his greatest fear.

 _No! Not here! I made a promise to him! And I won't fail! I won't fail him again!_ A pain surged again, only Travis welcomed it, he ignored it and began to think. His mind went through the vast library of everything he had created. For some reason whenever he would draw or think of his past drawings it seemed to calm down the pain, it also created an odd feeling in his body. There was one drawing in particular that ceased any pain and he focused on that.

Travis stood up from the wall, just as the girls went past him and were about to fight Blake. "Leave them alone," he told them in a demanding voice that could send chills up your spine.

The girls simply laughed this intimidation attempt off. "Oh? And what are you going to do about it?" The brunette asked.

"I'm going to beat the living shit out of you."

"Oh really? You and what army?"

Travis didn't respond instead in his left hand a soul-like burning orb formed in his hand. It was light blue and translucent, it appeared mesmerizing and pretty. The orb began to grow in size and shine brighter as his eyes began to glow as well. The entirety of Travis' eyes were glowing the same light blue as his eyes, matching the color of the burning orb, they were like L.E.D. lights back on Earth. Travis' mind was on the one drawing that kept the pain away and a surge of energy came from his whole body and exited, a bright flash soon followed this. Travis then said one thing, the one thing that would stick with him the most

" _ **Heed my call!"**_

When the flash left Travis was not alone anymore. Beside him to his right was a bright blue glowing figure made out of some weird energy. It could be described as Aura, but it didn't seem like it. Whatever it was, it didn't appear human, it looked mechanical. It was blocky, but refined. Human, but robotic. Travis was always a fan of science fiction, much like Reese, but Travis had always taken an interest in battlemechs. Primarily Battletech 'mechs. He had drawn many in his drafting classes in school, much to his delight. And his favorite 'mech was now standing before him: the Victor (look it up in another tab, my description will be pretty shoddy). It looked human, it had two legs, two arms, and a head. It's head was low and domed, through the aura glow you could see where the human was supposed to sit, although it was scaled to be just above Travis' sight so it would be able to house a mouse at best. It had only one hand, the other was a large rifle the size that could give Crescent Rose a run for its money when it came to lethality. It was a hexagon shape that sat perpendicular to the rest of his arm. It stood next to Travis in a standby position, it sat straight up and waited for an order, the misty aura glow flowing in the air. Travis' eyes were still glowing but as he grabbed XYZ with his other hand the blue orb disappeared.

"Me and this army."

Blake was stunned, as was Reese, as were they all. _He can summon things? That's his Semblance?_ Blake questioned, a little in awe. How could you not be in awe if you saw a 'mech made of aura.

Travis didn't wait for a response as he charged forward, the Victor following him. A sense of renewal inside Travis for some reason, he had not realized that there was a mech behind him following his subconscious orders. XYZ slammed itself into the blonde and he followed the strike with a flourished flurry with the axe overwhelming the blonde until she was knocked out. The speed at which was marvelous. The Victor caught the gaze of the green haired girl who tried to stab it. The swords merely went through the body of the Aura made 'mech. She looked at it in confusion until the hand of the Victor found its way around her neck to which he raised the girl several inches into the air. The silence and blank stare gave off a vibe of lethality not seen by many, if at all. The creation slammed her into the wall with its left hand. It grabbed her back out of it momentarily only for the two 'lasers' attached to its hand to fire off beams of some energy (don't know if it was Aura or actual lasers) The direct shot was painful to the girl as she tried to shoot it with her shotgun. The shrapnel simply went through the mecha, you could see the bits of metal colliding with the wall. She struggled to get out until the Travis' creation slammed her into the ground, bits of the asphalt shot up. It then slammed its right foot down multiple times on her. She was barely conscious as the mechanization aimed the large rifle it had for a right arm at her head and blasted with the mysterious 'Aura-beam' shot. The Victor made its way back to Travis, who was fighting the brunette, the two were in a deadlock. The Victor reading Travis' subconscious thoughts ran in. Travis' eyes were still glowing and served as a different source of light as a wave of water rushed toward Travis. Still standing Travis walked up to the brunette who decided to take drastic actions. This kid wasn't going to take away her little peanut butter cup, and she was going to guarantee that. The Dust chamber switched to fire and Blake had noticed this, even his armor Travis might end up with large burns if he took it all.

"Travis, wait!" Blake called up hopefully stopping him.

It didn't as the cone of fire enveloped him. And Blake covered her mouth in reaction. The cone stopped and Blake's eyes widened to see the Victor was standing between Travis and the brunette. Travis stood in an odd trance, he knew something was aiding him in the fight, but he really didn't know what. The headache was still there and it removed any possibility for cognitive function and his ability to think fully. All he knew was that he had to save Reese. He charged the brunette, phasing through the Victor, surprising the brunette as she took the full brunt of Travis' sweeping strike. It hit her in the side of her chest as Travis quickly spun the opposite direction and did the same attack. The scepter fell from her hands as Travis gave an upward, uppercut-like, strike that launched her in the air slightly. The Victor then stepped in as it leaped off the wall into the air just above the girl. It slammed the large rifle into her chest and as she hit the ground, the 'mech fired the point blank making the ground beneath her crack and shatter, a shockwave felt as the rifle fired. The mech stood up and looked at Travis, his eyes still glowing and still didn't look like he know what was going on. His head suddenly shook as if he woke up from a trance, which he was kind of in, and he pinched his eyes.

"Oh god what happened?" He then noticed the three girls on the ground and Blake was wide eyes, "Um what happened to them?"

"You don't remember?" Blake asked, confused.

"Not really, I remember getting angry and wanting to protect Reese, I felt a surge of power flow through me, that damn headache came back and my mind basically shut down."

"Maybe you should look over there," Blake pointed to the direction of the Victor.

Travis turned and just looked at the Victor. The light in his eyes disappearing for a second each time he would blink, and he blinked many times trying to comprehend what he was looking at. He pointed at the mech and began to ramble. "You're- you are- you're a mech! You're the goddamn Victor! What the hell are you doing here? Didn't think this place had mechs yet?!"

"Travis," the new summoner turned to Blake, "you created it."

Travis' mind began to unravel. "What do you mean I 'created it'?"

"Travis," this was Reese speaking who took off his helmet and let Travis stare at his reflection showing his glowing blue eyes, "you discovered your Semblance." Travis was in shock he couldn't even muster words to describe how shocked he was. He thought they might have gained these supernatural powers when the crossed over but he didn't think they would show until much later. The Euphonium player was caught off guard as Reese took back the helmet and placed it on his head. "And you aren't the only one," Reese's arm suddenly ignited catching them both by surprise. The flames licking his arm as the other are caught fire and soon his whole body was engulfed in flames, a more recent discovery he made. Reese basically was the Human Torch from the Fantastic Torch.

Travis stood in shock, but began to become uneasy. The search, the battle, the use of his Semblance had worn him out and his body was done. His eyes stopped glowing and Travis began to wobble and nearly fell over before blake caught him. By the time he hit Blake's arm he was out cold. The Victor to the side dematerialized by separating into tiny pieces of Aura-like mist until it was impossible a 'mech was there except for battle scars it left. Reese grabbed Travis and carried him bridal style, oh the guys were going to give him crap for this.

"Come on, let's go home," he said and walked into the town.

'Wait what about them?" Blake pointed to the three girls who were out like Travis.

"What about them? They can make their own way home," Reese followed this by a snort, "unless you want to carry them?"

Blake didn't, she probably couldn't carry one of them let alone all three. She caught up with the Mandalorian who was holding the knight. When she looked to Travis she saw he was smiling slightly. And why not? He had just summoned something from his past, a past he longed for. Plus it was the best sleep he had gotten in days.

 **And that boys and girls is the end of the chapter. The next two are going to be the 'end' of this beginning arc. It's how I run things here, I work in groups of nine or ten chapters with my crap. Well as always, see ya later suckers.**


	8. Chapter 8: The Truth Pt 1: The Stray

**Author's Note: What is up beautiful people? Besides everything taller than you. This chapter will run along most of the episode 'The Stray', I will not change the major events too much, just imagine the main characters in the story as taking notes and shots at them, maybe a little bit of voicing their own opinion.**

Chapter 8: The Truth Part 1: The Stray

Team RWBY was sitting in their usual spot in the lunchroom, beside the wall next to a few windows. It was a nice spot to be in, it wasn't too far from food, but not a distance to the door. Sitting across the table were Team JNPR, all minding their business. Jaune was multitasking between reading a book and eating, Pyrrha was attempting to converse with him, Ren and Nora were having some trivial conversation. What it was about made no sense to the team of four girls sitting across from them. Four seat, two on one side and two on the other, were set aside for Team BBRS. This had been the way it was for the week's Team BBRS had been there. Today though, they were nowhere to be seen. The seats were empty. They all grew worried, needlessly so, for their neighbors. Maybe they got called in by Glynda, or Ozpin. The eight had noticed the mysterious team and the two faculty members seemed to communicate a bit differently than they did around the students. This was natural of course, people always act differently around superiors, but there was just something odd. And that could have been the theme for Team BBRS: odd. While JNPR never asked too many questions, Team RWBY couldn't stop from postulating multiple scenarios. Now add in the fact that they hid something as so innocent, so harmless as being musicians and then you start to ask more questions. If they were so reclusive about a certain topic such as playing music what were they hiding that was more sensitive. Travis had even said it himself.

They were hiding something, maybe sinister, maybe life shattering, maybe… earth shattering.

Blake had kept herself busy during lunch by eating, obviously, and reading one of her many books. But she wasn't too focused on that, she was focused on something else entirely. Her mind still vividly remembered the event that took place a few days ago, the day Travis first discovered his Semblance. The guy had passed out after his 'Victor', or whatever he called it, vanished from thin air. The unique powers huntsman and huntresses have no true limitation outside of physical. The fact Travis appeared to be able to summon things from his mind was a little cool, she had to admit, and kick absolute tail with it. The construct of his mind appeared to be impervious to any outside blows and could deliver decisive strikes to the enemy. The only issue appeared to be he had very little control of it. If you were to ignore the first summon he achieved, the following days where he tried to recall it the situation always ended the same. Travis either fainted or just about fainted, the latter only happening once and that was the fourth time he attempted a summon. Reese on the other hand looked like he had gotten his Semblance down to a science. It was not a mentally taxing compared to Travis' but it still took time for him to comprehend the Percussionist could literally light himself on fire. It was pretty scary seeing his arm ignite and see him not even noticing it, the power also appeared to ignore the pain that comes with being on fire.

The group of eight had been quiet and going about their business, just enjoying their meal until they heard boisterous laughter they all recognized. The ones on the far side stood up while those on the inside of the table turned around. To one of the tables nearly all the way across the lunchroom was Team BBRS. Brandon, Travis, Reese, and Sam were all talking to somebody. And Travis was nearly losing it, he had a laughter that didn't sound like it came from him. Team RWBY and JNPR couldn't see who they were talking to, and Ruby wanted to know.

"Who do think they're talking to?" She asked inquisitively.

"I don't know," Yang said while chewing an apple.

"Maybe they made some new friends," Ren offered.

"And they didn't tell us, I'm hurt," Nora said actually in pain a bit, "we should go break their legs!"

"No, Nora," Jaune nervously said to his teammate, not wanting the Team BBRS punishment to be turned to him, "Ren tell her."

"Nora," Ren consoled her, "what would they think if you broke all their legs?"

Nora's head drooped a bit in disappointment. "Then I wouldn't a good friend." She really wanted to break some legs.

"I don't know why we're even caring," Weiss said snootily, "we don't have to be their only friends."

"We don't have to but we want to be their only friends," Yang teased.

"They can do whatever they want," Weiss went on, while she did sound disinterested there was a hint of betrayal in her voice.

"Well I'm going over there," Ruby declared and left before anyone could say otherwise.

The sound of another round of laughter was the key to finding Team BBRS. It was fine if they found other friends, but they could have at least said something. The sound of laughter grew closer as the sights of the backs of their heads came into view. They were talking to some of the second year students. Ruby had seen them before, but never got the student's name. One wore a beret with sunglasses, the other had shaved head, while the third stared off into the distance seeming to not pay attention. There was an open fourth seat on the side of the three unfamiliar team,but she assumed it was going to be filled. She got practically right on top of them and found herself mid conversation with the four Team BBRS members telling a story. The group of seven hadn't noticed she was there.

Travis took a few deep breaths from laughing too hard, his face red and he removed a few tears from his eyes. "... so Sam squawks out a note like he ran over a duck mid song, and the conductor just goes more red faced. He cuts us off and throws his baton in the air. 'What the hell am I listening to?' he asks us, 'you are the best damn band in this high school and you can't play this? It's a Level three piece! Maybe I should replace you with some of the people who want to be in here but can't?!'." Travis had been making a mocking tone of his conductor back on Earth.

"And then Travis stands up in the middle of class and sets his Euph down and says…" Reese took over the story and motioned to the Euphonium player.

"'Listen Richards," Travis retold, "I understand we're playing like shit, but you're getting a little too bitchy. Why don't you leave and go f**k your wife for the rest of the day? I bet that would help you and I bet dollars to donuts your wife would enjoy a little angry sex. I always saw her as the type'." Travis had said that in the most calm and natural tone Ruby thought he had ever gave. The group immediately burst into laughter.

"And immediately Mr. Richards go red faced and looks down while all sixty of us burst into laughter," Reese said among the laughter. There was so much laughter from the five it was drawing attention to the group of seven.

Each member had the best reactions. Coco and Sam were both removing their glasses to wipe tears, Brandon had a hand covering his eyes as his mouth just laughed endlessly, Reese laid back slightly while looking down, Travis was slapping the table in an uncontrollable state, while this was happening Yatsuhashi and Fox were stoic. They were boring. Travis broke his laughter to finish the story. "You want to know the best part?"

Coco could barely focus or sit. "Oh gods yes! I got to hear this."

"Once Travis said that, Richards went into his office, came back out with some keys, and said he was going home to his wife!" Sam said before the group went to a laughter even more loud, even Yatsu gave a slight chuckle.

"I will gladly admit, that was worth the two weeks detention by the way."

Coco wiped away tears from the corner of her eyes. "Oh man that was hilarious," she reached down beneath the table, "but you gotta pay up." She held up a jar filled with various amounts of Lien.

Travis sighed and reached for his wallet. "How much this time?" While Travis was reluctant at having a 'Swear Jar' for him, he knew Coco would find one way or another to break his swearing habits.

"Umm let's see," she tilted her head and placed her index finger on her chin, "about twenty, I'll make it a lot less since you cracked me up."

"How generous of you," Travis sarcastically remarked before putting a couple of Lien in. The group of Earthlings had found a way to make some cash by selling weapons Travis made in his spare time. Don't know if it was legal to sell weapons but hey it ain't illegal if you don't get caught (just don't quote me on that).

"Umm hey guys," Ruby said making all of them, but Yatsu and Fox, jump up. Travis especially so.

The Euphonium player turned around to the little girl in the red cape. "Oh hey Ruby," he acted as if nothing was wrong, "watcha doing?"

"Oh nothing we just hadn't seen you all lunch, or the past lunch, or the one before that…" her voice trailed off.

"Travis!" Coco shot at the axe user, "Did you hurt this girl's feelings?"

"No!" Travis yelled back defensively, he was honestly scared of Coco, "At that wasn't my intention." Travis then turned to Ruby, "Ruby, I am sorry if we hurt you in any way, but we were talking with some good friends of ours." He motioned his hand to Team CFVY.

"Aw, ain't that sweet, Mr. Awful considers us friends," Coco said to her two teammates. No wonder they hung out together, the each had two sarcastic assholes.

"Hah, ha, ha," Travis sarcastically laughed (see?), "very funny Coco."

"I thought so."

Ruby let herself back into conversation. "Oh, no problem Travis it was just really quiet at the table today and we all wanted to know where you were, I mean Weiss didn't really care, but…" She then went on to list multiple reasons as to why she came over.

"Hey how about this?" Travis said wanting her to stop listing things that made him felt guilty, "Next time you and Team RWBY want to hang out, we'll join you."

Ruby immediately piped up. "Oh if that's the case, then why don't you come with us tomorrow to Vale, Weiss wants to go for some reason."

Brandon made a noise that sounded like he couldn't go. "Ooh, sorry Ruby, but we promised to train with Team CFVY all day."

"Oh," Ruby looked at the ground and kicked the air, "if that's the case then-"

"Hold," Travis said surprising the group, "me and Sam don't really have to be there. We're still a little sore from our last session. Plus a day off would be refreshing for the old 'think-tank'." Travis pointed to his forehead.

"Okay but why does Sam get the day off?" Reese asked.

"Sam has had the most training with Team CFVY, so I thought it might be nice to him to get a day off."

"Yed but don't you think we should be together for our team training. I doubt you'll get the hang of your Semblance by walking down the streets of Vale."

"True, but while there is no rest for the weary. If the weary do not eventually retire for a nap, they will eternally rest once they overwork themselves."

"Okay 'Confucius'," Sam mocked, "we don't need a philosophy lesson. But a break does sound nice."

"Then it's settled," Travis said, "we'll see you tomorrow.

"Okay!" Ruby chirped before running off for her team.

After she was out of earshot, which wasn't very far in the lunchroom, Sam sighed. "Why do I feel like we're going to regret this?"

"Because we'll probably end up doing something stupid," Travis retorted.

 **-That Night in the Training Rooms-**

Travis skidded back after blocking a blow from Coco's purse, damn did that thing pack a punch. He had to throw the blade of XYZ into the ground to stop him from crashing into the wall. When he pulled it out, he was strong enough now unlike when he fought with Yang, the weapon flipped around his back so the axe blade was just behind his head. He was tired, and worn out, Coco while being a pleasing person to look at packed more of a punch than basically anything. Except for maybe Yang, but he didn't want to compare the two. Travis straightened his back and rotated XYZ around his arms and palm till it fell into both his hands. Coco's purse then shifted and contorted itself into the gatling gun that surprised everybody the first time when going against it. A hail of bullets whizzed at Travis. The Euphonium player started to flourish the axe around his body, the blade beginning to hit the bullets. While he was not perfect and felt many stings in his aura, he was doing kind of alright. The whole 'Matrix-blocking-bullets-ability' nearly broke Travis, but every new revelation just about broke Travis. Wanting to get out of the bullet filled apocalypse, Travis dove to the side and rolled away. Running in a wide arc, the bullets barely nipping at his heels, Travis reached Coco who shifted her gun to the menacing handbag. The two weapons collided once again, both knocked back a bit. Travis quickly recovered his stance and leaped in bringing the blade down. Coco sidestepped and swung the purse at him, the blow connecting with his green colored armor. Despite the swing being heavy Travis only took a step back this time. He regained his composure and swung the axe up followed by a horizontal swipe to the left. Coco deflected the shot once again and swung while Travis didn't have time to react. The blow knocked Travis off his feet and he landed on the hard ground with an 'oof'. When he looked up Coco placed her heel on his chest keeping him pinned. The two were somewhat exhausted, mainly Travis, the fight went on longer. Maybe they were learning after all.

"Nice job," Coco said to the Euphonium player still breathing heavily.

"Ugh, you too," he said shifting his body before standing up with the assistance of Miss Adel.

"No seriously, you lasted a lot longer this time. What was it, fifteen minutes?"

"Twenty two."

"Hmm, let's say seventeen.

"Twenty."

"Nineteen and a half."

"Deal," the both shook on it.

The two were now in the room silent, the others were separated by the other rooms. The silence was a bit awkward, they were still scheduled for another ten minutes before Travis was going to leave, "So…" Coco drifted off.

"I should probably work on my Semblance," Travis said abruptly finding any reason to break the silence.

"Yeah, that sounds good. Maybe this time I won't have to catch you."

"Very funny," Travis snarked before putting out his left palm.

How Travis activated his Semblance was hard to put to words. It required focus, precision, mental fortitude. Travis had about one of the three, the other two were seldom to be shown by the kid. He kept his glare to the open palm trying to focus on what his mind desired. A pain in his head began to show itself, the first sign as he remembered the day with Blake. The pain grew, it felt like someone put a phone on vibrate and let it loose in his mind. One of his eyes winced in pain as the headache grew, it was working, Coco touched his shoulder.

"Hey you okay kid?" She asked but got her arm brushed off by Travis.

She didn't get a verbal answer, instead Travis' eye opened slightly and then shot open as a light blue glow enveloped them. The fashionista couldn't even see his pupils, everything was swallowed by the light. The second sign had showed itself, he was getting close, he only achieved the lights in his eyes as of yesterday. The headache grew, everything in his mind screamed for relief, the only thing to relieve his suffering was his goal. The flame that showed itself the first time he summoned the Victor erupted from his hand. The soul-like wisp floating above his hand. This was the first time the wisp had shown itself, all other attempts had been futile. Travis brain was beginning to ease on the pain, but not by much, he could now focus on his surroundings and the object planned in his head more easily. With the pain seeming to come to a crescendo a small flash took over the immediate area. Even though she had sunglasses on, Coco had to advert her eyes away. When she looked at Travis' hand she saw a tiny, miniscule, umm… stick in his hand.

"That was what took so long?" She asked, a bit confused at what Travis had made, "A stick?"

"No, this isn't a stick," Travis defended and brought the flat side of XYZ to the object beginning to engrave the object along face, "it's a mechanical pencil." Travis flipped the axe to face Coco. On it in the same light blue misty aura the pencil was made out of read: 'See I told you it was a pencil.' Coco gave a slight laugh to this. "Every time before when I focused on summoning the Victor I fainted, my body still needs to adapt to such a mental undertaking. From what Reese and Blake told me about how the mech acted, it appears to occupy my subconscious, meaning that all parts of my brain are being used. I imagine that because I was under an adrenaline rush I was able to keep it going longer than any time like right now. So for now I will focus on summoning smaller object, less complicated objects while I work myself up to the big mech."

"Hmm, well if you want to do it the easy way," Coco said.

"Well yeah, as much as you enjoy laughing at my unconscious body, I would rather not faint every single time I try I summon something."

"Maybe the issue is you're no fun?"

"Touchet." Travis shook his hand once or twice and the pencil disappeared, he expected the wisp to vanish but it didn't. "Hmm I seem to have found one issue," he said. Coco looked up signalling a answer was required, "I don't know how to turn it off."

The two swords of Yatsuhashi and Brandon clashed with a might sound. The two blades shifted from their position, starting at the sky to flying down to the south east where they met once again. Yatsu overpowered the Trombone player forcing his sword, the Grimm Mourne (it still sounded better on paper) to an uncomfortable position. Brandon shifted his foot backwards and pulled the sword wildly to his side, the blade of Yatsuhashi nearly hitting his foot. Brandon twirled his sword in his palm then went to deliver a downward strike to the green giant. The bald headed man blocked it easily and went knocked it back just as simply. Brandon took two steps back and Yatsu went in. A strike to the side forced Brandon to drop his back to half his height. While in the position Brandon charged the man using his high school wrestling experience to his advantage. While Yatsuhashi was obviously the stronger and heavier of the two, Brandon wasn't too far behind. The initial hit of Brandon shoulder checking into the waist of the Team CFVY member made Yatsu stumble, but not fall over. The two stayed in the awkward position for awhile until Brandon grabbed his right leg. In a quick motion that caught Yatsuhashi by surprise, Brandon pulled on the leg and pushed his shoulder in to completely flatten the man. Brandon was surprised the ground didn't shatter under the immense weight of Yatsuhashi, was that a burn? Well no matter as Brandon got up from the pinning position he had Yatsu under and offered a hand to pull him up. Jesus on a Sunday street corner, this guy was heavy, thank goodness he was able to prop himself up with one arm. The leader of Team BBRS thought his arm would be ripped from his socket.

"Nice job," Yatsu congratulated with a small bowing motion, "your skills have improved."

"Thanks, the advice you gave me really helped."

"You're welcome, always a pleasure to help. Do you wish to go again?"

"Yeah sounds good to me," Brandon brought up his sword up to his shoulders pointed at the opposing sword wielder. This time he had a special surprise. Pushing down on the hilt he clicked a switch on the inside of the weapon. The blade of the Grimm Mourne began to spin, and spin, and spin until it looked like an oversized drill bit. Yatsu was a bit surprised by the sudden development, but was ready for the challenge. The two went in, Yatsu going in from the side, Brandon going in for a stab.

Reese jumped back a bit to catch his breath, his jetpack separating the distance between him and Sam. Every breath Reese took could be heard through the microphone in his helmet. Sam on the other hand was a bit more restrained in his breathing. He had more experience with Team CFVY's… methods of training. No wonder Fox was covered with scars. Speaking of the devil, it was odd having a complete mute and blind teacher. They assumed he was blind and mute, no one really asked, it seemed a little insensitive to do so. Sam went in with an unarmed punch, they were both instructed to remove their weapons. While Brandon and Travis both wielded weapons that required certain skills, Reese and Sam thought a little hand to hand combat experience might be helpful. Plus, that was what Sam was mainly going to have to resort to when the Alton Cannon was charging, you couldn't remove the blades unless you wanted to be zapped by an inconceivable amount of electricity.

Reese was the first to get back into the sparring with Sam. Using his jetpack he lept into the air, about ten feet, and brought his forearm like one of Travis' axe swings. The force of the blow sent the Saxophone player down, but with a sweeping kick Reese fell over. Quickly the Mandalorian got back to his feet and shifted his chest to avoid a punch followed by a kick from Sam. The kick managed to connect to Reese as the bottom of Sam's foot hit him square in the chestplate. Sam advanced by throwing a straight punch at Reese's shoulders, this one was caught by Reese. Sam looked in surprise and tried to look at Reese, 'tried' being the word seeing as how his eyes were covered by his helmet. Sam gave his over hand a try and attempted to punch the Percussionists. This one, too, was caught by the covered hand of Reese. With both hands taken out of the equation, Reese, threw his head back and immediately thrusted the helmet to collide into Sam's. The headbutt came as a surprise, and incredibly painful option, to Sam. The annoying part was Reese didn't feel any of the negative recoil from headbutting an opponent. Usually no one wins with a headbutt, nobody. Before Sam could react, Reese let his jets flare to life, Reese had let go of Sam by this point. While still disorientated Reese took this opportunity to go in once again. He landed with a stomp of his right foot which brought Sam to the floor. Sam looked up to see the rust colored Mandalorian standing tall, the light slightly skewed his color scheme but it made him look more badass. Reese extended his hand.

"Need up?" He offered, the scratchiness in his radioed voice broke Sam out of a daze.

"Yeah, gladly," Sam replied reaching for his hand. Reese immediately jerked back before Sam could get a hold of it. Sam fell to the floor and Reese chuckled, the asshole. "Bitch," Sam said on the ground before getting himself off the floor.

"What?" Reese pretended to be innocent.

"F**k you," Sam said giving a scoffing laugh, "you know what you did.

"Hey, hey, watch the language," Reese reminded Sam, "or else Coco might find out."

"I seriously doubt she'll be on my case."

"If she hears you who knows what the shit she'll do."

"Hmm true, hey what time is it?"

"Umm," Reese went through the interfaces in his helmet, "about a quarter after ten."

"Oh shit, me and Travis have that outing with Team RWBY tomorrow. I should probably think about getting some shut eye."

"Eh, probably, say can you tell me something?"

"Sure."

"Why did Travis specifically single out you when talking about going?"

"I don't know, you realise Travis is a few cards short of a deck right?"

"Yeah, no, trust me I know Travis can be a little crazy sometimes, I just find it odd that Travis wants you to come with him."

"How about this I'll ask when I talk to him later."

"Do whatever you want, I've already seen a good amount of Vale already, I don't need to see it again."

"You do realize that you were in a fear induced paranoia when you went through Vale right?"

Reese stopped right there. "We don't talk about that."

"Whatever, I'm going to bed, I don't know how long we'll be."

"See ya man."

"I regret everything," Travis managed to choke out.

"You said what in front of my sister?!" Yang growled into Travis' ear while holding in in a headlock.

"Yang, loving sister," Ruby tried to reason, someone blabbed about Travis' little story in the cafeteria, "he didn't know I was there."

"Doesn't matter, he ruined your innocence, now I will ruin him."

"Please," Travis cried out, "have mercy, someone help."

"Yang," Sam said grabbing her arm, "let him go, I think he's suffered enough."

"Fine," Yang released Travis' neck where he took the deepest breath, she then pointed a finger to the wheezing axe wielder, "but if you do anything to ruin the innocence of my sister I swear…"

"Point taken, I'll let you tell her about the 'Birds and the Bees'." Travis gave thumbs up.

"What's that?" Ruby asked, the terminology was unfamiliar.

"Uh.. nothing Ruby it's noth-" Yang tried to silence her sister's curiosity.

"You see Ruby," Travis said ignoring his promise for the good of comedy, "when a mommy and daddy really love each other," Travis smiled as the Sam, Blake, and Weiss looked in horror as he was about to explain 'sex' to Ruby. Yang stopped him by grabbing onto his throat and pulling him back into a headlock, "son of a bitch!"

"What did we just go over?" Yang said strengthening her grip on his head.

"Yang, enough," Weiss practically ordered, "try to act decent in public."

She let go of Travis once again, followed by the same wheezing, "You're no fun Ice Queen."

"Oh god I think my collarbone is broken," Travis reeled in pain.

Sam slapped him in the back, "You brought it upon yourself."

"Shut up, you think you can just spout out facts?" Travis asked sarcastically.

"God I hate you sometimes," Sam said as the two members of Team BBRS moved to the back as they were about to enter to Vale. An old man on a step ladder, a tad dangerous, was pulling up a sign. It read 'Welcome to Vale', a bit on the nose there. "What's with the welcome mat?"

"What?" Weiss asked astonished, "The Vytal Festival?"

"Oh yeah that thing," Sam said in an 'aha' moment, Travis slapped him upside the head, "ow."

"The Vytal Festival is absolutely wonderful!" The heiress exclaimed in an uncharacteristic glee that neither the Earthlings, or the girls had seen before.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much Weiss. It's kinda weirding me out…" Ruby said, voicing all of their opinions.

"How could you 'not' smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances, parades, a tournament! Oh the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking." Weiss explained with great joy taking in the sights.

Sam whispered into Travis' ear from behind the group. "Sounds like the Olympics or the World's Fair back home huh?"

"Indeed," Travis replied in a hush tone.

Yang, who had not heard their exchanged, sighed. "You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring." That one made Sam grin.

"Quiet you," the Schnee quickly shot back at the blonde.

"It is rather impressive when you think about it," Travis said to the whole group. A surprising remark as he agreed with Weiss for probably the second time in his short time of being at Beacon, "the idea that four kingdoms have to periodically show themselves to the whole world. Let them see for what they truly are. It takes great bravery to do so, and even greater strength to admit to flaws."

"Uh, I don't think you're getting the point of this," Yang said to the green knight.

Travis shrugged, "So be it, but if we take your approach to it then this little shindig is just an excuse to beat some fools from another kingdom."

"Yeah," Yang said in a tone as if Travis was incredibly stupid, "what else?"

"The celebration of other cultures?" Travis asked.

"How about celebrating how far we've come as a people?" Blake said.

"The possibility of getting to drool over people's awesome looking weapons?" Ruby offered, this made them all turn to the scythe user with differing looks of 'really', "What?"

"The real reason we have the festival is to eat all the delicious food." Sam stated, as if his opinion was one hundred percent true.

"What?" Weiss couldn't believe him and was going to voice her displeasure.

"There's the real reason," Travis said as he punched Sam's shoulder before laughing, "way to think with your stomach."

Weiss' glare just narrowed at the two Team BBRS kids. "Remind me why we brought them?" Wow, just no restraint on that one.

"Travis felt sorry for excluding us at lunch yesterday, he insisted," Ruby explained crossing her arms.

Weiss didn't want to reply or voice her disinterest in their appearance, even if her disinterest was minimal. While they seemed not wanting to know, Team RWBY still wanted to know the Team BBRS secret. The big one, the big cheese, going for all the marbles, double or nothing, the one where they went ass-balls crazy to hide. One time someone, a curious student managed to sneak in when the group weren't in. But he got caught by Brandon and Travis, the sounds of him being pummeled reverberated throughout the whole dorm. That was when everybody put behind the whole 'let's bug Team BBRS about their history' thing.

Yang changed the subject when the smell of salty air assaulted their noses. "Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?"

Ruby pinched her nose at the mere scent of the foul docks. "Ugh, they smell like fish."

"Well if they smelled like chameleons we would have a huge issue on our hands," Travis joked as the last two kids walked up to the railing. He smiled slyly at the four, "you know I'm right." The smell of the sea didn't disturb Sam or Travis, they both grew up in western Washington State of the U.S.A. They lived a simple few hours from the beach, Seattle, and many bodies of water. The smell of fish or salt water was breath of refreshing air.

Weiss continued past the knight's snark, as she usually did, "I've heard students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today…"

"That's the desert one right?" Sam whispered to Travis.

"Yeah. also the chill one."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"...And as a representative of Beacon I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom," Weiss finished before walking, the group went with her as a boat horn went off in the distance.

"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament," Blake translated for the group.

"Ah! You can't prove that!" Weiss defended herself, but only made her look more guilty.

"Well if there is nothing against it, then what is really wrong?" Travis pointed out.

"Thank you," the heiress sighed as someone agreed with her even if it was Travis, "someone get's it."

But she didn't let him continue his point. "After all it is said the first murderer got away with his crime because there was no rule against murdering your fellow man."

"Ooh," Yang laughed, "he got you there."

The only response was Weiss getting visibly angry. Would Travis just pick a side already?

"Woah," the voice of Ruby made all five of them turn to whatever she was looking at. They turned to see a store with broken windows and crime scene tape all over it. People were standing back and taking a look at the damage. All members of Team RWBY had their concern looks while the two Team BBRS members were just curious. They all walked up in a horizontal line. The two police officers looked like regular schmoes, wearing black aviators because they needed to look cool. "What happened here?" Ruby asked.

"Robbery," the first detective told her peeling his attention away from his police report, "Second Dust shop to be his this week. This place is turning into a jungle." He turned to look at the broken windows.

"That's terrible," Yang said.

Travis and Sam both looked at the scene with great curiosity. Very few times had either of them seen an actual crime scene, let alone a fresh one. This world was full of surprises. "They left all the money again." The two heard the second detective. This peeled them from the scene.

"What?" Sam asked under his breath.

"Yeah, just doesn't make a lick o'sense," the first detective said waving his pistol around haphazardly, "Who needs that much Dust?"

 _So it is the Dust they were after, interesting._ Travis thought to himself. In his world stealing an energy source like oil or coal would be laughable, but when you take said energy source and convert it into literal magical crystals that can do all kinds of crap it doesn't seem so laughable.

"I dunno, ya know what I mean?" The second detective brushed off, _was he making an innuendo?_.

"You thinking the uh, White Fang?" The first proposed with a wave of his firearm, _that seems rather dangerous to swing that around like it's a flag._ The mention of the White Fang brought both the Team BBRS kids to attention, especially Travis. Sam looked to see his teammates eyes go into a glare of anger. When they first arrived in Remnant, Travis nearly got his head blown off the faunas extremists. He had a certain resentment, rightfully do.

"Ya I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."

Weiss was the first to speak. "Hmph. The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates." All members present turned to look at the heiress' stuck up response.

"What's your problem?" Blake asked.

"My problem?" The white haired girl harshly asked, "I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided faunas."

"Misguided?!" This made Travis raise an eyebrow at Blake as Weiss went on, "They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!"

"So then they're 'very' misguided," Blake was really trying to get her point across the snooty heiress. "Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale."

"Hmm, Blake's got a point," their leader said, "besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago… maybe it was him?"

Weiss was still defiant in her stance, "That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum. Those faunas only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."

"That's not necessarily true," Yang disagreed.

"It is true," Sam said, "not every faunas is a criminal I mean-"

"Hey! Stop that faunas!" A sailor from the docks yelled, pulling everyone's faces to the scene.

The group of girls ran to the bridge where they were just at followed by Travis and Sam. "You really had to say something didn't ya?"

"Shut up," Sam felt like his foot was forcibly shoved in his mouth.

While it was a tiny scene to watch, the group was able to make out some blonde kid. He was wearing a white shirt that was unbuttoned showing off his abs and red gauntlets. The kid hopped on to the edge of the boat just below the wooden walk way leading to the city. He turned and smiled, "Thanks for the ride, guys!" This was followed by a 'hehe' before leaping off the boat. He landed and made a run for the lamppost.

"You no good stowaway!" Another sailor yelled.

The faunas had a monkey tail, which fascinated the two Team BBRS kids. It really shouldn't have since they had been there for nearly a month and faunas were a common sight at Beacon, but guess when your world doesn't have faunas but has furries instead you can be wary of such things. The kid was hanging on a lamppost by his monkey tail and began to chow down on a banana (that's racist *bell ding sounds off*). "Hey!" He shot back, "A 'no good' stowaway would have been caught. I'm a great stowaway."

The detectives from the crime scene made their way over to the kid. "Hey. Get down from there this instant." The first detective sounded like an annoyed parent.

The faunas chose to piss them off instead of complying, he dropped the banana peel on the cop's face where they growled in anger. The yellow haired kid laughed mischievously before swinging his body to the top of the post, leaped off, did a flip in the air, and rolled onto the ground before making a break for it. The two cops pursued. As he ran up to where the group of six were they all got a good glimpse of him. As the monkey faunas ran past Blake though she could have swore she saw him wink at her. He ran past as the feeling of time seemed to stabilize and the group of three ran off into the city.

"Well Weiss, you wanted to see the competition," Yang was the first to speak, "and there it goes."

"Quick!" She yelled, "We have to observe him!" she then ran off followed by Ruby, Yang, Travis, and Sam. Blake took a few seconds before running after her friends but soon caught up.

"She couldn't have used a better term?" Sam asked Travis, "She makes it sound like we're going to dissect him."

"Not my crazy bitch," Travis replied.

"Oh what? She my crazy bitch?" Sam retorted.

"No but somebody will have to deal with her. Ten bucks says it Ruby."

"I'll take those odds," Sam answered with a little contemplation and a handshake.

Weiss took a sharp turn and ended up running into somebody. She didn't even bother looking at the individual and stared at the group of cops and criminal. "No! He got away!" She whined.

"Uhh, Weiss" Yang pointed at her. The Schnee looked down to see a girl, probably no older than them with orange hair dolled up like a child. She had green lines of the pants she wore that almost appeared to be directly connected with her shoes. Her neck was covered by a green and black sleeve while the rest of her body was covered by a grey shirt that was colored in two different shades. The girl gave Weiss the creepiest smile, even the Team BBRS duo jumped back a bit as did Team RWBY. "Ah!" Weiss exclaimed in shock.

"Salutations!" The girl greeted while still on the floor.

"Um… hello." Ruby cautiously greeted.

When they noticed she hadn't gotten to her feet, Yang spoke. "Are you… okay?"

"I'm wonderful. Thank you for asking." The girl replied, in a chipper mood one does not usually be in when knocked to the floor unexpectedly.

"Do you wish to possibly… get up?" Travis asked about to offer a hand.

The orange haired girl took a moment to think about the question, a bit strange. "Yes." She said confidently before lifting herself up in one fluid motion. When she made eye contact with Team RWBY the four girls all took a step back. Already being in the back Sam and Travis relaxed their stance. "My name is penny. It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny greeted, those light green eyes seeming to dig at their souls it seemed like.

What came next was the usual bout of greetings.

"Hi Penny, I'm Ruby.

"I'm Weiss.

"Blake."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Wait that didn't sound right, Blake quickly hit Yang trying to be subtle. "Oh, I'm Yang.

"The name's Sam.

"And I am Travis."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny repeated.

"You already said that," Weiss said.

It took Penny a minute to realize that she had already greeted the group of six. "So I did!"

"Well, sorry for running into you," Weiss apologized, well at least she has those kind of manners.

"Take care, friend," Ruby said expecting that to be the last moment she would see Penny as the group began to take their leave.

The group had left Penny to her own devices and was walking down the street where the group had previously made a mad dash from. "She was… weird." was all Yang could say.

Weiss, seeming to completely ignore her teammate, had a different question in mind. "Now, where did that faunas riffraff run off to."

"Maybe he ran away from a crazy white haired girl who wanted to 'observe' him?" Travis joked making air quotes around the necessary words.

Weiss was about to shoot back at the knight until the group took a rather familiar sight upon them. "What did you call me?" Penny asked, where did she come from?

Weiss' head was turning back and forth trying to comprehend how the girl had moved so fast without anyone noticing. Travis and Sam were dumbfounded by this, and a little scared. This is how they disappear and never are seen again until someone finds their dead bodies, by talking to an estranged girl. Maybe they had been watching too many horror movies? "Oh, I'm sorry. I definitely I didn't think you heard me." Yang sincerely apologized.

"No, not you…" Penny said in a way that made the two Team BBRS members shiver (too many horror movies). She walked up to Ruby and for sure invaded her personal space. Travis and Sam, who were behind Ruby started to back up, as slowly and without any sudden movements. "... you!"

"Me?!" Ruby exclaimed as she bent backwards to evade the creepy girl, "I-I don't know, I-what-um, uh-" Ruby was stammering like a sinner in church called to give a service.

"You called me 'friend'." Penny seemed so shocked at the idea, while the other people were very, very, confused, "Am I really your friend?"

"Ummmm," Ruby sort of looked behind Penny to her team, and Sam and Travis who had made their way around without being noticed. Blake, Weiss, Yang, and Sam were all saying now by moving their hands. Travis, however, used his Semblance to summon a sign that read, in his blue aura like mist, 'No, don't do it, this girl's got "Crazy Bitch that will leave you in a freezer" written all over her'. It may have hurt Travis to summon something, but he felt like it was worth it. "Ya , sure! Why not?" While Penny had a look of pure joy on her face, all other members went wide eyes and fell to the floor. Somehow a gong went off the moment they all hit the ground.

"Ahaha!" She laughed in utter happiness, "Sen-sational!" She made sure to enunciate the two syllables. "We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"

"I'm starting to believe she doesn't have many friends," Travis whispered to Sam.

"Oh really? What tipped you off"

Ruby sort regretted her decision, wasn't exactly difficult not to, "Ooh, is this what it was like when you met me?" She asked Weiss who was dusting herself off.

"No, she seems 'far' more coordinated," Weiss replied (was that a burn on Ruby).

"Soo, what are you doing in Vale?" Yang asked the creepy as all hell girl.

"I'm here to fight in the tournament," Penny proclaimed.

"Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?" Weiss had a hard time believing that statement.

"I'm combat ready!" Penny proudly boasted with a salute.

"Perhaps she scares the ever living shit out of us and we all beg for mercy if we agree to let her win so long as she doesn't stuff us in the frozen meat locker in her basement?" Travis hypothesized.

"Okay, you are not allowed to watch any horror movies after twelve," Sam told him.

"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part," Weiss explained.

"Says the girl wearing a dress," Blake pointed out. It was true, such an awful choice of attire.

"It's a 'combat skirt'," Weiss corrected.

"Ruby immediately ran to the side of Weiss. "Yeah!" She said before Weiss gave her a high five to her 'combat skirt' wearing teammate.

"To be fair none of you look the part," Travis said aloud to the group. This got him multiple looks and glares, "What? I'm the one in knight's armor here."

Weiss then stumbled upon something. "Wait a minute," she walked up to Penny and grabbed her shoulders, "if you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed… rapscallion?" Blake gave her a glare.

"The who?" Penny was confused by Weiss' question.

"The filth faunas from the boat!" The heiress drilled into Penny by showing a cartoonishly drawm sketch of the man from earlier, only he looked evil. Wait a second where and when did she draw that?

"Why do you keep saying that?" Blake asked, a little ticked at the heiress' constant berating of the monkey faunas.

"Huh?"

"Stop calling him a rapscallion. Stop calling him a degenerate. He's a person!"

 _Uh-oh, they're doing it again._ Travis shook his head.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to the trashcan as a trashcan, or this lamppost as a lamppost?" She was pointing to the variety of objects she was listing.

"I'll have you know that, that lamppost finds that very offensive. It prefers the term 'illumination tower'," all parties looked a the green knight," sorry, just tried to lighten the mood."

Blake seemed to ignore as all his distractions did was feed her annoyance. "Stop it!"

"Stop what?" Weiss asked.

"Yes, Blake 'Stop what'?" Travis' anger was beginning to show its ugly face. Sam tugged at his arm and gave him a stern look, that cooled him off.

"He clearly broke the law. Give him time, he'll probably join up with those other faunas in the White Fang."

Blake's left hand closed into a fist, she really wanted to punch Weiss, "You ignorant little brat!" She yelled before storming off.

"How dare you talk to me like that! I am your teammate," Weiss said and walked up to Blake, this only furthered the heated exchange.

"You're a judgemental little girl.

"What in the world makes you say that?"

Yang in the meanwhile walked up to Ruby. "Uhh, I think we should probably go."

"I agree," Travis said from the other side of Ruby

Penny came in from behind, "Where are we going?" she hadn't realized that she could not come back to Beacon with them

Meanwhile with Blake's discussion, more like a shouting match, "The mere fact you would sort that faunas boy with the terrorist group solely based on his species makes you just as a scoundrel as you believe him to be."

"So you admit it, the White Fang 'is' just a radical group of terrorists."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

It didn't make much sense how, but time must fly when two friends are arguing over something that they cannot prove. The next thing anybody knew, the conversation shifted to the dorm room of Team RWBY, Travis and Sam were in the room as well. "I don't understand why this is causing such a problem." Weiss retorted to Blake for what felt like the upteempth time.

"That 'is' the problem!"

"Hey, uh Travis?" The knight turned to see Sam who had opened the door quietly and was halfway through it, "I'm going to take a walk outside, I need to blow off some steam, all this fighting is getting to me."

"Okay see tomorrow then, I'll probably turn in soon," Sam nearly closed the door, "sorry we had to spend our day off listening to their constant bickering."

"What can you do?" Sam asked before closing the door.

 _Oh, great, what else can go wrong._

"You realize you're defending an organization that hates you humanity don't you? "Weiss asked as if Blake was stupid, "The faunas of the White Fang are pure evil."

"There is no such thing as 'pure evil'! Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like 'you' that force the White Fang to take such drastic measure!"

"This may be just me but, Travis said, it was the first time in a while since someone else had spoken, "screaming for equality and peace when you pointing a gun at someone is not the best way to get it."

"Shut up, you people are all the same!" Blake yelled.

"People like me?" Weiss felt offended, Travis walked to the side of Weiss, he had made his decision on who to stand by.

"You're discriminatory!" Blake yelled at the two.

"You know what," Travis said, he was incredibly pissed, he could have shown her, he could have shown all of them, but it would not be today, "I think I'll take my leave," he opened the door, but before he left he had one more thing to say, "don't blame the deaf man for not being able to listen Blake, for he cannot choose his fate." And with that Travis closed the door. Unfortunately, he didn't have far to walk. He went next door to his room. When he walked into his room he saw Reese and Brandon were still up. "'Sup?" He asked still a little steamed.

"Not much," Reese said, "but mind telling what's going on with our lovely neighbors."

Travis began to take off his armor. "Oh, we were at the docks, a monkey faunas appeared to be shady, Weiss called him many names, she said a bunch of stupid stuff, Blake said a bunch of stupid stuff, they talked about the White Fang, funny story: they're still talking about it. I got pissed off and decided to leave, but I guess we still have to deal with this."

"Yeah, sort of sucks," Brandon said slowly, "didja ya tell them?"

"No, wasn't the right time, especially since we met this one… unique individual."

"Oh really, tell us about-"

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" The three members of Team BBRS heard from the other side of the wall, coming from the dorm of Team RWBY. The voice belonging to Blake. The three exchanged looks as dead silence filled the air, nobody knew what to say or do. The sound of their door opening and something running down the hall at breakneck speed ended the tenuous silence.

Travis opened the door and looked down the hall to see no one in the halls, they were in a hurry. "Blake! Wait! Come back!" The voice of Ruby Rose beckoned. She turned to see the light blue eyes of Travis in as much concern as there was anger in his eyes. _Don't tell me…_ he thought.

 **-Meanwhile with Sam outside getting fresh air-**

 _Today was something_ , Sam thought as he took in the view. The moon, while shattered, looked beautiful in the clear sky. It splintered perfectly to make a crescent shape like back home. What happened in Vale today was rough, not the way he expected. Honestly he wasn't surprised they got in a fist fight, the two girls. He began his walk back to the dorms. That's when he heard something, it sounded like crying, weeping, sadness. As the sax player walked up he saw Blake, _oh maybe she's feeling a bit better,_ but when he saw her crying he thought otherwise. But what did him in was seeing her without the bow, to reveal two cat ears. Animalistic traits on a human body, he realised Blake was a faunas. What he didn't notice was that she was talking to someone. He couldn't see who, but he walked up, nervous as all hell to do so.

"Blake," he called out, surprising the girl considerably. Sam noticed she was walking out of Beacon, "what are you doing?"

"Hey man, could you give her some privacy?" The voice that he just now recognized said, it was the kid from the boat.

"Blake, don't do anything you might regret."

"Wow ouch there buddy, hey I might have feelings too ya know" the monkey man said.

"You don't understand," she barely managed to get out, she still was walking out.

"Then tell me!" Sam exclaimed raising his arms up, she did not stop however. There was one thing Sam knew would stop her.

It was time.

"Blake if you tell me, then I'l-" he hesitated a moment before speaking," "then I'll tell you everything." Blake stopped at the realization what 'everything' meant to her. While she decided to stop trying to figure out Team BBRS's secret, she still wanted to know, they all did. And now he was willing to tell him? "No more lies, no more hiding. You let me come with you and you tell me your side of what happened today. Then I'll tell you everything you want to know."

 **-The next morning in Team BBRS's dorm room-**

Travis woke up first, damn habits, he sat up from his desk chair, an odd habit, and stretched out his back. He swiveled in his chair to see Reese, Brandon, and… wait? Where was Sam?! His mind immediately went to bad thoughts. He rushed open the door and knocked on their neighbor's. Ruby opened it, she appeared to be the first awake, but just barely. She wiped her eyes groggily and looked at Travis. He didn't let the scythe wielder speak, he demanded answers. "Where is Samuel?" He had never been so pissed in life.

 **-That same morning in a Vale coffee shop on a balcony-**

Blake, Sam, and the newly introduced Sun Wukong sat at table overlooking the street. Blake and sun sat across from each other with Sam being on the outside. With a swig he took the last of his tea down, _really we're at a coffee shop and we're having tea?_ Sun took a drink from his cup using his prehensile tail to hold it. "So," Blake said prompting a surprised reaction from the both of them, "you wanna know more about me."

 **And scene! Well that was fun to write, sorry about the wait. Hey, um, thanks for reading, I do appreciate it. Next chapter will be pretty much like the episode, I'm not going to deviate too much, much like this chapter. I will say it is a lot harder to watch the older animation after being spoiled on stuff like Volume 4. Anyways, see ya later suckers!**


	9. Chapter 9: The Truth Pt 2: Black and

**Author's Note: Warning! Warning! This chapter carries** **HEAVY and Ungodly** **amounts of exposition. If you hate this kind of crap don't worry, I hate it too, you'll just have to grin and bear it. This chapter will have a good amount of talking much like the last one. I will promise you a fight scene. I can't promise you a good fight scene because…reasons. I do hope you enjoy it though.**

Chapter 9: The Truth Part 2: Black and White

"Finally she speaks!" Sun praised to the heavens.

"Halleluja," Sam said in accordance doing jazz hands.

"Nearly two days and you've been given us nothing but small talks and weird looks. I swear I know about Sam over here than I do you, and he hasn't even told his big 'secret'," Sun went on. Blake sort, actually scratch that, she full on gave a death stare to Sun, "Ya! Like that."

Blake sighed and rolled her eyes and made eye contact. "Sun… are you familiar with the White Fang?"

Sun put his cup down immediately. "Of course! I don't think there's a faunus on the planet who hasn't heard of them. Stupid, holier-than-thou creeps that use force to get whatever they want. Bunch of freaks if you ask me." Sun finished his point with a sip from his cup while Blake did likewise, poor Sam had already emptied his cup.

Blake put her cup down. "I was… once a member of the White Fang."

Sun immediately choked on the liquid he was drinking and coughed as well. Sam just went wide eyed and stared at Blake. _Okay looking back at yesterday, I can see that now._

"Wait a minute," Sun said getting his bearings straight, "'you' were a member of the White Fang?"

"Do you want to say that any louder?" Sam asked the monkey faunus, "I don't think the academy heard you."

Blake just gave Sam a sideways stare and ignored his comment. "That's right," she answered Sun's question, "I was a member for most of my life actually. You could almost say I was born into it. Back then things were different. In the ashes of war, the White Fang was meant to be a symbol of peace and unity between humans and the faunus." She stopped to take a breath and took a sip from her drink. "Of course, despite being promised equality, the faunus were subjected to discrimination and hate. Humanity still thought of us as lesser beings. And so, the White Fang rose up as a voice of our people." Another sip created silence as the two were completely entranced by Blake's tale. "And I was there. I was at the front of every rally. I took part in every boycott. And I actually thought we were making a difference… but I was just a youthful optimist…" She took a breath and thought long and hard about what she was going to say next. "Then five years ago, our leader stepped down, and a new one took his place. A new leader, with a new way of thinking." The black haired girl shook her head in disappointment, "Suddenly our peaceful protests were being replaced with organized attacks. We were setting fire to shops that refused to serve us. Hijacking cargo from companies that used faunus labor." She looked down into the reflection of herself in the cup. "And the worst part was? It was working. We were being treated like equals. But not out of respect…" She placed the cup down on the tiny plate still looking at the reflection of herself. "So I left. I decided I no longer wanted to use my skills to aid in their violence. And instead I would dedicate my life to becoming a Huntress." She looked up to both Sam and Sun, "So here I am. A criminal hiding in plain view. All with the help of a little, black bow." She wiggled her cat ears and the bow moved as well.

Sam was in shock. One: the story reminded him of too many times of what could happen back on Earth, and even what's going on right now in the world back Home. Two: he felt so bad that Blake, one of the nicest people he had ever met. He just wanted to give her a hug.

"So…" Sun was the first to speak, "have you told your friends any of this?"

Blake closed her eyes and looked down. She kept her eyelids shut when she spoke. "I got into an argument about the White Fang with a teammate. She was rude, discriminatory, and I sort of lost it." When she said 'lost it' Sam and Sun both gave worried looks. "Oh no, not like that, I just admitted to being a member of the White Fang. And that's when I ran off." Her voice trailed off, her voice becoming hitched. She sounded like she was about to cry. Her head perked up when she felt a hand on her right shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Sam told the cat faunus, "I'm sorry you had to endure years and years of being discriminated. I wish I could have done something for you."

"Whoa," Sun said, "I didn't think of you as the consoling type?"

"Well someone has to. God knows what would happen if Travis had to console somebody. Trust me, he tried to do it with me and it took him forever to make me feel better."

"Yeah will Travis seems to hate the White Fang just like Weiss," Blake said solemnly turning her head down.

"Blake," Sam said, "you have to understand that Travis had a bad run in with the White Fang when we first arrived."

"'Arrived'?" Sun asked, "I thought you guys go to Beacon, where did you guys come from? Another kingdom?"

Sam sighed and looked to the both of them as he retracted his arm and looked into his empty cup. "What I'm going to tell you is something very dangerous, something unfathomable, something as Travis puts it 'will change your understanding of the universe'." The Saxophone player looked at his two native Remnant faunus.

"Sam," Blake calmly said, but it still had concern in the tone, "what are you saying?"

"What if I told you there is another world out there?"

The streets of Vale were relatively quiet on the weekend morning.

"Blaaake?!" Except for Ruby calling out for her teammate.

"Blaaake?!" Goddammit her sister was doing it too.

"Blaaake?!" Ruby persisted in using the most annoying tone possible, "Where are yooouuu?"!

"Blake!" Yang cried out again.

Ruby turned to Weiss who was being silent on the whole matter. "Weiss, you're not helping!" She told the white haired girl who hasn't uttered a single helpful phrase.

"Oh! You know who might be able to help?" Weiss asked in a mocking tone, "The police."

Ruby just kind of sneered at Weiss' statement and growled. "Ugh, Weiss."

"It was just an idea!" She threw out her arms in exasperation.

"Yeah a bad one," Ruby turned around and kept walking.

"And it won't help the current situation," Travis pointed out. The three jumped a little as they had forgotten Travis had tagged along to find his teammate Sam. The axe wielder had been so silent it was like he wasn't even there, very uncharacteristic of Travis.

"Weiss, I think we should hear her side of the story before we jump to any conclusion," Yang told her trying to be the voice of reason along with Travis.

"I think when we hear it, you'll all realize I was right," the heiress shot back. Goddamn Travis really took her side on this one?

"And I think Weiss' hair looks wonderful today!" A voice from behind everyone said. At that moment everyone jumped back to see the orange haired girl from yesterday. The same girl who Travis thought had a meat locker filled with her victim's and ex boyfriend's body parts. Travis had a wild imagination.

"Agh!" Ruby screamed, "Penny where did you come from!?"

"A very good question," Travis added as he slowly feared for his life and wished not to be stuffed in a meat locker or freezer. Seriously this girl creeped Travis the f**k out.

"Hey guys. What are you up to?" The girl seem to disregard Ruby's question and went nonchalantly with the conversation.

"Not trying to be stuffed in a meat locker," Travis said to himself before being jabbed by Yang's elbow, "I regret nothing."

"Uhhhhh…" Ruby nervously started.

"We're looking for our friend Blake," Yang finished.

"Oooh!" Penny threw her head back in realisation, "You mean the faunus girl!"

"Beg your pardon?" Travis cocked an eyebrow.

"Wait how did you know that?" Ruby asked curiously.

"Uh, the cat ears?" Penny pointed to the top of her head.

"What cat ears?" Yang asked a bit jokingly before making the connection. "She wears a… bow…"

A tumbleweed rolled by as the wind blew. _Where did that come from anyway?_ Travis asked as he saw it roll down the street.

Ruby whispered to Yang, Weiss, and Travis. "She does like tuna a lot."

"So, where is she?" Penny asked joyfully as if she didn't understand that the group was looking for Blake.

"We don't know," Ruby said, "she's been missing since Friday."

Penny then immediately gasps and runs to console Ruby separating her from Weiss, Yang, and Travis. "That's terrible!" Ruby makes an awkward smile as if to agree, "Well don't worry Ruby, my friend! I won't rest until we find your teammate." Penny nodded in pride.

While Penny and Ruby were talking, Travis got in close and whispered into both Weiss and Yang's ears. "On three we run," he told them, they both nodded in agreement, "we run fast and we run far, and then you're going to fill me in on a few things. One… three!" He hissed before the three sprinted off behind the group. Luckily the other two could not hear the footsteps.

"... but we're-we're okay. Really. Right guys?" Ruby asked as if she wanted to be released from the jaws of death. She looked over Penny's shoulder and saw that the three were gone. Dashed outlines of the group seem to appear and flicker in unison. _Aw come on guys._ She mentally kicked herself, why didn't she think of that?

A second tumbleweed, or maybe it was the same one, rolled in the opposite direction. "It sure is windy today," Penny noted.

The Team BBRS dorm room had been pretty quiet for most of the weekend, mainly because Travis wasn't there. Despite his usually calm attitude, if we can call it that, towards the people of Remnant he tended to be a bit more boisterous around his fellow earthlings. Reese sat on a bed, doing some studying for Oobleck's class. Well it was more like deciphering Travis' notes from Oobleck's class. Reese swore Travis wrote awful just to torment him. A knock on the door tore his attention away from the scribbled writings.

Reese's eyebrows raised in confusion. _Who the hell would knock on their door? If it was Brandon he would've opened it._ "Who is it?" Reese called out.

"Um, it's Jaune," the muffled voice of Jaune Arc came from behind the door.

"Oh," Reese was pleasantly surprised, he walked up and opened the door, "come on in man."

"Thanks," the blonde said, he was in his combat attire. He looked nervous for some reason.

"Something wrong?" Reese noticed Jaune's behavior. His breathing was hitched, his hands sort of trembled, and he avoided eye contact with the Percussionist.

"Listen I just want to say it isn't my fault," he prefaced as if something were wrong.

"Jaune," Reese tone was getting a bit more serious but still concerned, "what's going on?"

"Nora really wanted to see your guys' instruments and saw your door was left open so she just…"

"Jaune," Reese tone was now stern, he reached for one of his laser pistols, "what happened?"

Jaune looked down in disappointment and brought up a plastic card. Reese took it in hand and soon his eyes widened at what he saw. "I'm so sorry, we didn't mean to pry."

In Reese's hand was his license, like his driver's license, from Earth. It had his picture on it, his address, and more importantly the name 'Washington State' labeled across the front. No doubt they looked up the address and definitely looked up 'Washington State'. Reese sighed and sat on the bed. He massaged his whole face as the sound of the door slamming caught his attention.

"Who are you?!" Nora yelled still in her chipper yet powerful mood.

Reese put his head down in his hand and felt Jaune's hand go on his shoulder. "You okay man?"

No, he was not okay. He didn't want them to know, he really didn't want anyone to know. It was one of the few things he contrasted against with Travis, Sam, and Brandon. He thought it would be too much for them to understand, they would be black sheeps, but they found out a piece about them that would only raise more questions. "Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora. You're going to want to sit down." The group of four comply. "So," he pauses on how to handle the situation, "let me ask what you think?"

"Well…" Ren begins.

"We think you guys are convicts!" Nora finishes, she didn't sound angry. Just loud and uncontrollable.

"Nora!" Pyrrha yells, her eyes wide, the spartan didn't want the Percussionists to feel threatened. To her surprise Reese just chuckles at the pink girl's outburst.

"That's funny," Reese tells them, much to their confusion, "Glynda said the same thing when she first met us."

"She did?" Jaune asked, Reese looked to him and saw that he was directly next to him separated by a few inches by the shoulders.

"Yeah, mainly Travis. But when you think about it she did have a point. Travis hotwired a car and we all cuss way more than anyone in this f*****g world," the group took a small jump at Reese cussing. While Travis had become known for his use of the language, the rest of the team usually kept it to themselves, this was one of the few times he swore in front of the natives, "see? Plus there is an I.D. card you just saw, so yeah a criminal would seem likely. But no, we are not criminals. Any other guesses?"

The group all look to one another and give a half assed shrug. "That was only thing we could think of," Pyrrha said shyly, she felt ashamed of calling a friend a criminal. She turned her head away to avoid contact with Reese. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," the tone in Reese's voice told the group that he didn't care, Pyrrha lifted her head up slightly amazed. "you hear it once, you hear it a thousand times. Also you guys would never get the right answer"

"So…" Jaune asked, "who are you guys?"

"You're not asking the right questions Jaune," Reese told the blonde team leader, the group all looked at each other as Reese just chuckled a bit, "you should be asking 'What are you guys?'"

Jaune didn't completely understand Reese, but he understood enough to back away slowly. Usually this doesn't end well in movies when people say this. "Umm… Reese?"

"Oh, come on Jaune! What do you take me for?" Reese joked before standing up and going to the closest door beside where Pyrrha was standing. "Let's see where are you? No that's 'Physics in the World', 'Calculus 1', 'Musical Studies'. Ah! Here we go!" Reese pulled out a textbook, not one Team JNPR recognized as one of their own. It was a red and blue book with a bald eagle on the front cover. "Government in America!" He showed everyone the cover, "People, politics, and policy." Who knew Brandon was a closet politician.

"Government in what?" Nora asked for the group.

"America," Reese said, "to be correct the United States of America."

"Is that some kind of lost village?" Ren asked.

"A country of three hundred million people gone overnight? Not likely," Reese sort of playfully smiled at his response.

"Three hundred million?!" Jaune was completely blown away. That many people in a kingdom? How?

"So if it's not lost," Ren hypothesized, "why did you show this to us?"

"While the country isn't missing, four of its citizens have been lost for some time now."

Pyrrha gasped . "Oh my! Have they been found?!"

 _They can't be seriously be this naive can they? Maybe I'll have to be more 'direct'. Maybe they will get it with one more clue._ "No Pyrrha, they have not been found. They've been missing for a few months now and they disappeared without a trace after an accident on a roadway."

"Did you know them?" Nora asked.

 _You got to be kidding me?! Can they not make the connection? I guess dimensional travel wouldn't be at the top of their list, but still._ "Yes I did know them, you could almost say I was one of them when they left," Reese didn't understand why, but his tone was growing solemn and melancholic.

Jaune was the first to make the connection. "Reese," the Percussionist turned his head to face the blonde, "I'm sorry. Just tell us the truth."

 _The truth_. He took a deep breath and put the book away and pulled out the license they had from earlier. "You see me, and Sam, Brandon, and good old Travis are not from here."

"What do you mean? Like from Beacon? A good chunk of the student body isn't from Beacon," Ren explained.

"Saying we're from Beacon wouldn't answer the full question. We come from far beyond Vale."

"Then what you're from another kingdom?" Nora asked.

"Farther."

"You from a destroyed village?"

"Farther."

"Do you even have a home?" This was Pyrrha who asked the question. Reese looked at the red haired girl and sort of regretted her question. There was sadness in his eyes and regret. But why? Did she hit a nerve? She would surely apologize if that were the case. Oh, she did not know how many apologies it would take to quell the sadness Reese and Team BBRS held within themselves.

"My Home, our Home, is lost to us," Reese's head fell down.

Jaune wrapped his arm around Reese's shoulder. "Hey you're not the only one," it was Ren who spoke.

"Yes but our predicament is much worse," he looked to the green ninja who was puzzled, "when I said we weren't from here it was true. We aren't from any kingdom, any village, shit we're not from any continent. At least no continent in this world."

The last comment made them all give questioning looks. "What?" Nora asked.

Here was the big bomb, the truth bomb, what they all wanted to know.

"We come from another world."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Nora burst out laughing, followed by Jaune but not as loud, Pyrrha slightly snickered. _Just as I thought._ But Reese saw Ren, how he was not laughing or pissed off thinking Reese was insulting their intelligence, he knew Ren understood even if it didn't make sense. Reese then looked back down at his license and sighed. He hoped they would believe him and not show proof. But when did fate throw these kids a bone? "Let me explain," his voice was calm and low.

"Oh, please," Pyrrha wiped a small tear from the corner of her eye, "I have to hear this."

"Yeah I want to hear how you're an alien!" Nora joked before falling out of her chair laughing.

Reese just sighed again and stood up. He walked up to a closet in the room. The three cases blocked the path and quickly Reese removed them. Taking a deep breath he removed the door and revealed the contents. It was a… shrine? That was the conclusion Jaune made looking at it. But to what? There was no person put up on a pedestal like most, or object, just a globe. Only the globe looked different. Reese had stepped to the side and rested his body up against the wall. When Jaune stepped closer he saw a hand drawn map of a planet on a model globe. The landmasses were unfamiliar to the blonde, they had odd names. 'Russia', 'China', 'Great Britain'. That's when he saw one landmass separated by large bodies of water.

'The United States of America'.

He looked to Reese who nodded slowly. _He was telling the truth?_ The blonde knight thought. Reese seem to understand his confusion and looked to the ground. After a sigh, he was just full of those, he went to the red book and went to a more detailed drawing of the United States. He showed them the map placing the spine against his chest so the image was facing them, they all huddled around him. "We were high school students in Western Washington," he used his finger to circle the area in question, "Brandon, Travis, Sam, and I were all band students. It's how we met. We were going on a band trip down to California," his finger moved down to the state he mentioned, "we were a group of volunteers who would go early and help get things organized at our first performance location. The simple stuff like setting up percussion equipment and transporting it. Well while on the freeway we were stopped, some stupid accident on the road. Well, some dumbass didn't get the memo. I still can hear the rev and the roar of the engine, the screeching of the breaks before it hit the tanker truck, I can still remember the sounds of the people screaming." Reese's head sagged down. Earth, no Home, was not a happy topic to talk about with anyone. Including the others, that is why they built the 'shrine', if someone needed to think about Home then they would look at it for a while before moving on. It was difficult to say the least. "The next thing we know, we're here in Remnant with you guys."

Silence, that was all there was. Team JNPR looked in shock. Either Reese was the world's best liar, or… or he was telling the truth. Him and Team BBRS were from this 'other world'. A whole other world! That is a tough pill to swallow, and yet it sounded… believable. None of them knew who Team BBRS really waere, they possessed knowledge that other hunters didn't need like higher mathematics and physics, and not only that they sometimes swore like sailors which was a huge no-no in Remnant.

"Okay," Jaune said putting his arms out to calm things down, "let's say you're from another world. Why not tell us sooner?"

Reese looked deep into his eyes, not out of anger, again out of pain and sadness, "Your initial reaction is why," he said, "we couldn't take it if the whole school was laughing at us, berating us, calling us freaks from another world. It would drive us to the edge. Team CFVY knows about this along with Ozpin and Glynda, but we only wanted to tell people who we trust." The collective eyes of Team JNPR, along with their hearts, melted as this meant they trusted them with their biggest secret. "I imagine Travis will tell Team RWBY today after what happened to them."

"What happened to Team RWBY?" Jaune asked.

"I don't really know," Reese admitted, "I just know Blake got pissy at Weiss who was also pissy and Blake and Sam haven't been back since. We made a promise to ourselves to tell them if something bad were to happen to them, as a sign of trust. And now it seems like we need to make good on our promise."

"Reese," Pyrrha's voice was low, and serious. It brought them back to the previous conversation, "are you telling us the truth?"

"I am Pyrrha, Team BBRS is from the a planet called 'Earth'."

"'Earth'?"

Reese nodded, "A planet of seven billion, comprised of nearly two hundred individual countries, and has just as much drama as this dimension."

"So… are you an alien?" Nora asked, she almost sounded giddy about that, as if she were excited about having an alien friend.

"No, not really, Travis has a special term for it but I can't remember it right now. I mean we are the same, you and I, we are human. We have the same bone structure, blood, emotions. There is no difference aside from our Home."

"Reese," Jaune walked up to put a hand on Reese's shoulder, "I'm sorry." He seemed to understand that they were like him. Jaune wasn't meant to be at Beacon, he forged his transcripts to be here. Them on the other hand, they were forced into this world, this world's problems forced onto their backs as they were practically enlisted into being a huntsman. It was kind of sad to think of them like this, they were almost prisoners. "I'm sorry about what happened."

"Don't be," Reese response made all four of them even more confused, "there was nothing that could have been done. We…" Reese almost felt like tearing up for some reason. Why? He wasn't one to usually to cry, none of them generally cried. He took a breath to get his emotions back in check. "We have each other, and that is what keeps us going. So long as we have one another, we'll be strong."

"Is that why Travis went to look for Sam?" Jaune asked.

"Partially, Travis also feels responsible for us being here."

"Why's that?" Jaune grew concerned.

Reese took a pause. "Travis has always been one to figure out a problem and solve it. Back Home he wanted to be an engineer. When people asked him what wanted to do as an engineer he always gave the same answer. 'I want to fix problems'. When him and I worked in the metal shops at school he would usually fix the machines that got broken *small chuckle* I remember he quarantined himself in the room with a sandblaster till he figured how to fix the damn thing." A long pause was taken, "So when you are stuck with a problem and you can't fix it you feel guilty, you feel that you're useless. So when Sam didn't come back last night he thinks it was his fault and he believes he needs to fix it." _Gosh well that really killed the mood,_ he thought when he saw their faces, "Listen I don't expect you guys to completely understand all of this I know it's a lot to take i-HNGH" Reese felt Nora give him a huge hug that nearly crushed his bones.

"I am so sorry," Nora buried her face into Reese's stomach, "I sorry for calling you a criminal!" She sounded like a kid who just got caught stealing from the cookie jar and was trying to use tears to get out of the problem.

Reese just sort of smiled, his body ws still being crushed by Nora's bear hug, his face was somewhat strained. "Nora," he wheezed out, "I know you're sorry, but can you please release me?"

"Nope!" _Dammit,_ "Not until I let you feel all of my love!"

"Oh trust me I'm feeling the love right now," a sarcastic comeback from the usually quiet Percussionist around the people of Remnant.

"Nora," Jaune said trying to get to the girl, "I think he accepts your apology." Nora let go and Reese took a deep breath of relief. "Hey," Jaune's voice made Reese look up, "thanks for trusting us."

"No problem man. We trust you in particular more than anybody else."

"W-wh-wha-wh-what?" Jaune stammered. Really? The group from another dimension trusts Jaune? Jaune Arc? Boring, plain, uninteresting Jaune Arc?

"Jaune," Reese said, "they are people here who can wield a scythe like it's an everyday gardening tool, people who can flip off buildings with ease and _not_ die, people who win in tournaments, some people are ninjas in the modern day, people who can summon glyphs, and people who can redirect their pain back at the opponent. But we're not like that, Team BRRS and I. Back Home we don't have this stuff, we were musicians not fighters, we don't have to worry if monsters are coming for us. We're… we're just normal."

" _We're normal just like you Jaune."_

Reese noticed how the world seemed to pause around him. He looked at their faces. He swore Nora nearly started to cry again, she was really fragile wasn't she. "Hey I have a great idea," he said to lighten the mood, "why don't we head to the cafeteria and I can tell you some more about Earth, the good stuff, and the fun stuff?"

"Yeah, that sounds nice," Jaune said.

"Well then, let's go."

"Ooh what do you guys do to the Grimm back home?!" Check that previous Nora comment, she just appeared to be 'bouncy'.

"You guys are in for a surprise," Reese said before heading out of the room with the group.

Blake, Sun, and the Saxophonist Sam Perish walked down the streets of Vale. It was really, and kind of unnervingly, quiet as they walked. No one had said a word to each other since Sam dropped the big truth bomb of them being from another dimension. Sun broke the cup he was drinking from when he finally said it. Blake was just…um what's the word for it? Oh yeah! Pretty f*****g shocked! Originally she didn't believe it, who really would, but when Sam went into detail about their world and their way of life she accepted it. Sam was incredibly adamant that it was the truth, and he really wasn't one to lie aside from the whole 'We're from a planet called Earth' and the lengths they would go to hide it.

"So…" Sun tried to start a conversation, "is it cold in Wash-Washington?" He still had a hard time trying to swallow it all.

"Well it depends," Sam was surprisingly chipper about it unlike how any of the others were going to handle the 'truth', "Western Washington gets most of the rain. We'll sometimes joke that we don't have seasons we have colors. We have 'grey' for nine months out of the year and have three 'blue' months."

"So what about the other half?"

"Eastern Washington is divided by the Cascade Mountains almost directly down the middle of our state. The other half has to deal with the rain shadow the mountains give. It is incredibly dry most of the time, but they are colder in the winter. They generally get most of the snow in the state, but they get the hottest weather in the state. The west side is usually more mild during the year."

"Uh-huh," Sun nodded, the conversation was getting nowhere despite Sam giving good answers. Listening about a place you had never heard of, and still had a hard time believing was real, could only last so long.

"I have a great idea," Sam suggested, "Blake, what's the plan now?"

"Hmm?" She turned her head to the two, she was completely engrossed in her thoughts.

"What's the plan Blake?" Sun asked.

Blake sighed and put a hand to her chin. "I still don't believe the White Fang is behind these robberies. They've never needed that much Dust before." It was true, why would any organization hell bent on taking on humanity ever need ammunition? (sarcasm)

A sudden realization came across Sun. "What if they did?" he made sure to stop and look to Blake immediately on his right. "I mean… the only way to prove they didn't do it, is to go to the place where they would most likely go to if they were to do it, and not find them there…right?"

It took a minute for Sam to decipher the confusing mess. "Translation: We go to the most likely place where they would steal a large amount of Dust from. If we find them, we know they did it. If we don't, we know they aren't the thieves."

"The only thing is, I have no idea where that would be, "Blake admitted, she was stumped as to where the White Fang would go for such a large amount of Dust.

"Well, while I was on the ship, I heard some guys talking about offloading a 'huge' shipment of Dust coming in from Atlas," Sun told the group.

"How huge?" Blake asked.

 _Oh god I want to make a 'that's what she said' joke but that might ruin the mood._

"'Huge'," _Oh please sweet merciful god stop torturing me,_ "Big Schnee Company freighter."

"You're sure?" Blake questioned.

"Come on, when have I led you astray?" Sun asked teasingly.

"Well," Sam said raising a finger, "you did kind of bring us here."

"You didn't have to come," Sun said.

"What and miss this? No way," Sam joked, "I may be from another world but this shit just doesn't back Home. We're very relaxed compared to you people."

"Okay Sun," Blake said, "we'll go with you to the docks."

Travis Basco stood outside of a shop in Vale, he leaned to the left of a blue tinted window. He had his eyes closed as he thought about… things. _Nice going Travis, you've really f****d up this time. You try to tell the girls the one thing they've wanted to know since day one and you accidently piss one of them off, and then Sam goes with said pissed off girl. Worst case scenario: he's dead. Best case scenario:... he got laid. I doubt Blake would do either of those things but I barely know a thing about her. I shouldn't have said those things to her, I shouldn't have picked a side, I should have kept my big mouth shut and not say a word to either of them._ The sound of a bell ringing caught Travis' attention.

"Thanks anyways!" Yang waved back to the store owner, Weiss was still being defiant in her attitude as she looked around the streets. Travis walked up behind the two girls. "This is hopeless." Weiss is silent during this whole time, just like Travis, and Yang notices that. "You really don't care if we find her, do you?"

Even though it was really directed towards nobody and just generally the other two Weiss shot back. "Don't be stupid. Of course I do," a bit of a shock to both Travis and Yang, "I'm just afraid of what she'll say when we find her." She walked a little down the street, "The innocent never run, Yang."

"The innocent do run," Travis retorted, "when society deems them as the guilty."

"What about you?" Yang asked Travis who turned to face her, "Why'd you take Weiss' side?" Weiss was about to say something but Travis stopped her.

"A while ago," his voice was low and solemn as he looked to the ground, "I had a run in with the White Fang. I was tired, disorientated, and scared. They shot at me with the intention to kill. I still remember the sound of the shotgun blast." He looked to Yang and Weiss who were both shocked and sorry.

"I'm sorry Travis," Yang said, "I had no idea."

"It's fine, it really is. There is a reason why Blake is here and I highly doubt that she's acting as an insider for the White Fang."

"What makes you say that?" Weiss asked.

"When you were arguing with Blake yesterday, not once, did she ever say the White Fang were completely right. She never said they were wrong either. If Blake was a member of the White Fang then she knows things that we don't. I imagine she's seen things that we don't want to imagine. I believe if she is here training to become a huntress then I think she's had a change of heart."

"That was oddly profound," Weiss said. It was very rare that Travis talked in such a manner, he usually just make side comments and try to be philosophical, seldom was it when he talked like this to the girls.

"It's what happens when you live from a different perspective," Travis said, he began to walk with the girls.

"And what perspective is that?" Yang questioned.

"The perspective of a man from another dimension," Travis simply stated. The two girls stared at each other in pure and utter confusion. He let the silence fill the air as the words echoed in their mind, a smile crept on his face as he counted on his fingers.

 _3…_

 _2…_

 _1…_

" _ **WHAT?!"**_

 _Bingo_

Night had fallen upon the city of Vale, the search for Blake had not stopped. But Blake was looking for something as well, she was on the prowl for the White Fang. Together her, Sun, and the earthling Sam went to the docks. They saw a huge Schnee freighter pull into the docks and unload for what seemed like hours. Seeing the boats around the docks reminded Sam of Seattle. A popular destination in the Pacific Northwest and one of the few things Washington State was known for. You know besides Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, a lot of the stuff Americans seemed to run on. The smell, the sound of the seagulls, the swearing of sailors it all reminded him of the docks back home. It's mainly why the smell didn't bother the two earthlings. The smell was always a short drive away for them.

Blake and Sam sat on a roof watching the dock workers loaf around, Sun went off somewhere but they didn't know exactly where.

"Did I miss anything?" The voice of Sun asked as he returned. He appeared to be carrying something in his arms.

"Not really. They've offloaded all the crates from the boat. Now they're just sitting there," Blake replied, it was hard to tell if she was relieved or disappointed.

"It has been _so_ riveting," Sam mocked as he laid on his back.

"Cool," Sun seemed to disregard the Saxophonist's remark, he reached out and showed an apple "I stole you some food."

"Do you always break the law without a second thought?" Blake asked.

"Do you want some Aloe Vera for that burn Sun?" Sam joked keeping his gaze to the sky.

"Hey, weren't you in a cult or something?" Sun retorted only for Blake to grimace at him.

"Ha, he got you there Blake," Sam said.

"And also, aren't you a freaky alien?" Sun directed to Sam who's smile vanished.

"F**k you."

The sound of engines roaring suddenly appeared as the wind kicked up. Blake and Sun shielded their faces as Sam got back up with them. When the initial dust settled the group of three looked to see a large airship in the sky using a searchlight to scare away the dock workers. Turning the searchlights off the aircraft landed with the main hatch opening with the group of hunters in training to the back of the hatch. A man in black and grey apparel walked out. The had a black hooded jacket covered by a white shirt/robe like covering that acted like armor. As their back became more prominent a design became visible.

"Oh no," Blake uttered seeing the insignia.

"Is that them?" Sun asked narrowing his eyes.

Upon further inspection of the symbol her fear was confirmed. "Yes. It's them." The design had a characterized animal head colored blood red with three slashes in the background. The white armor was used to highlight the mouth and eye socket.

A group of about five more White Fang grunts walked out. Some order was said seeing as how the group turned around and nodded, but because they were far away, the three didn't heard them.

"You really didn't think they were behind it, did you?" Sun asked.

Keeping her gaze at the White Fang she responded. "No, I think deep down I knew. I just didn't want to be right." You could feel the sadness and you could hear the heartbreak.

"I'm so sorry Blake," Sam said placing a hand to her shoulder, "I wish you didn't have to see this."

"Hey!" A voice yelled, it was distinct enough to make Blake's head snap up to attention, "What's the holdup?" The White Fang turned to see their 'boss'. A man in a three buttoned white coat with red accents in the collar. A bowler hat covered his bright orange hair as some of it was grown out to cover his right eye. His left eye had makeup on it. _The f**k?_ "We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, sooo, why don't you animals try to pick up the pace."

Even though Roman Torchwick was far away, Sam could feel his rottenness radiating from his body. He shivered at every word he heard.

"This isn't right," Blake shook her head in disgust, the White Fang would never work with a human. Especially not one like that." Blake stood up and grabbed Gambol Shroud and pulled out the spike of the weapon. She jumped down immediately, much to the dismay of the other two.

"Hey!" Sun exclaimed, "What are you doing?!"

"Blake, think about this rationally!" Sam called out, but it was too late you can't exactly reverse time.

Blake landed and bolted for Torchwick who was too busy ordering the grunts to do the heavy lifting. He was so engrossed in his work that he somehow didn't hear footsteps as she was running towards him. She stopped behind a shipping container to gaze at Torchwick berating a faunus.

"No you idiot! This isn't a leash!" The career criminal lashed at to the grunt who apparently couldn't decipher a rope from a leash. That was it, the final nail in the coffin, the nudge to go over the edge and actually do it. Blake Belladonna ran behind Torchwick and placed the sword over his throat catching him by surprised, but he remained surprisingly calm about the whole situation. "What the-?" He then noticed Blake, then rolled his eyes, "Oh for f-"

"Nobody move!" Blake ordered. Damn and we were going to have one of the characters cuss and it not being one of the earthlings.

The grunts all turned to Blake and pulled out guns, swords, and some more guns. "Woah! Take it easy there little lady," Torchwick said. The group made a semi-circle around Blake and Roman, weapons drawn and hot.

 **-Back with Sam and Sun-**

From atop the building Sam and Sun looked at the situation transpiring. "Uh-oh," Sam said looking at the group.

"Well great she's going to need our help," Sun told Sam, he sounded a little enthusiastic about the whole thing.

Sam stood up and turned on the Alto Cannon's charging mechanism, the barrel glowing a bright blue color, the two blades that acted as electromagnets could be seen transporting sparks of electricity. "Like we weren't going to anyway?" Sam sarcastically asked.

"You sure you want to do this?" sun was actually concerned for Sam's health, "You say you don't do this type of stuff back home. You could get hurt, or worse."

"Hey, if I'm stuck here and I have to deal with this _thing_ ," he shook the arm that had the Alto Cannon on it, "then I may as well start _being_ one of you guys. A huntsman."

"Aw ain't that cute," Sun stood up "the little guy is stepping up."

"Little?" Sam asked, then he noticed that Sun was like six foot two, and he was a few inches taller than Ruby. He was still two years younger than anybody else and it irked him when someone pointed it out. "Fine maybe you have a point," he grumbled, "let's get down there."

"Actually," Sam looked to Sun and saw the monkey faunus was formulating a plan, "I have a better idea."

 **-Back to Blake and Torchwick-**

Blake was angry and shocked to see them working with such a vile and disgusting criminal such as Roman Torchwick. To them they just saw another human interfering with their goal, their intent to kill. Blake knew that and had to change that. She reached for her bow and pulled it off revealing her two cat ears.

"Brothers of the White Fang," she cried out, "why are you aiding this scum?"

The White Fang's resolve seemed to be broken as they are aimed upon one of their own, a fellow faunus and White Fang member. Roman just simply laughed at this. "Heh, oh kid. Didn't you get the memo?"

"What are you talking about?" Blake asked as Roman closed his eyes and smiled devilishly.

"The White Fang and I are going on a joint business venture together."

Blake closed some of the distance between her blade and Roman's neck. "Tell me what it is or i'll put an end to your little operation." The sound of more engines soon stormed the air kicking up dust and wind. The sound nearly deafening like before.

Roman smiled and looked up to the sky. "I wouldn't exactly call it a 'little' operation."

Blake, Sun, and Sam all looked up from their different perspectives to see two more airships fly in and try to land near the cargo containers. Blake had been so distracted by the sight of the new arships that she couldn't help but look up. Roman smiled evilly and placed his cane right in front of Blake's feet. With a chuckle he pulled the trigger and released the Dust based projectile sending her sprawling. No doubt the sound could be heard in the once peaceful night sky.

"Son of a bitch!" Sam yelled seeing Blake flop to the ground, "Sun we have to hurry up!" The two increased their speed along the rooftops.

"I'm going, you don't have to tell me twice!"

Blake looked up shaking her head quickly to remove the disorientation the blast had given her. Her cat ears picked up on the sounds of more volatile flares from Melodic Cudgel. She had to roll out of the way unless she wanted to be burnt or blasted, The flares erupted on the ground behind her as Blake's cat like reflexes took control and sent her on a hairline trigger, every sound and motion was being heard or read without her actually noticing it allowing her to focus at the task at hand: running. Blake was able to shoot a glance at Torchwick as he prepared another volley of fire. He shot four more times. One landed to the left of Blake cracking the ground beneath it, the second was going to land just close enough to hurt so the faunus flipped backwards out of the way and dodged the third blast, the fourth was going to connect so the girl used her semblance to create a clone to take the hit. Using the smoke from the volley as a small cover Blake made a dash for the shipping containers on her left. Roman fired a shot landing just behind her feet, the impact made Blake steady herself with her hand before making her escape. Roman was not pleased.

"Okay kid, this is it!" Sun yelled after throwing a banana peel at Roman. Sun then jumped off the building like a delinquent.

"Umm what?" Sam asked. They wanted him to jump off the building?! Were they crazy?! Well, yes is the short answer. "Oh for f***s sake!" He leaped off the crate aiming for behind the grunts instead of the middle which was where Sun had aimed for.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty," he called out before having something heavy hit his hat pulling it over his eyes. Roman grabbed a banana peel from his hat and looked with anger in his eyes. Who the hell throws a banana peel?! His answer came in the form of Sun's shoe making direct contact with Torchwick's face. Sun looked to be a gymnast as he did multiple flips and rolls before taking one last one to look awesome turning around.

"Leave her alone," the monkey sternly warned.

The doors to the other airships opened for more White Fang guards to leap out of ship. They landed and surrounded the yellow haired faunus. Some had swords, guns, swords and guns. They really had the whole 'sword and gun' thing on lockdown. "You are not the brightest banana in the bunch, are ya kid?" Roman teased before the White Fang went on the attack. To Roman's surprise though, and to all of them, something sounded off in the distance. The group looked to see a concussive blast from the Alto Cannon landing at the feet of a few White Fang grunts. The blast sent them flying into the air. "Okay… what was what?!" Roman yelled as the sound of the blast swallowed the air, it sounded like blowing out an amp using a guitar.

His answer was a second blast sending the young Samuel Perish into the air where he landed on top of a goon's head. "That would be me," Sam pointed to himself, the Alto Cannon glowing a bright blue and bolts of energy zapping between the two pylon like daggers. "Surprise motherf*****r!" He shouted at a group of grunts behind them. "Sun you take the grunts in front, I got the one's back here."

"You sure kid?" he asked.

"Trust me," Sam smiled before letting the blades of his weapon spark with energy, "I need a good field test."

The first grunt charge Sam who used his smaller height to get under his swing and fire a blast of energy into the gut of the man. The blast, while no longer deafening, sent the man flying into the air only to land hard on a shipping container nearby. A second grunt with two swords used both blades to make a scissor like slash. Backing away slightly Sam lunged downward with the Alto Cannon, the two swords were caught in the space between the two dagger. With a blast he broke the metal blades along with the ground beneath them before punching the faunus criminal in the face using the two blade. Three grunts swarmed the young kid. Quickly realizing a blast this close wouldn't be the best idea he pulled out the two daggers that made up the 'rail' of the rail gun-like weapon, he's been thinking about calling them 'Bari' and 'Soprano'. Holding the knives in a defensive position he blocked the first using the right (Bari) knife. A second came from the left trying to get his legs only to be blocked by the left (Soprano) knife. His body looked like it was is a crooked lightning bolt when the third went in for leaping strike. With little time he eased up on Bari and rolled to the left and struck the corresponding man with both knives The blow sent his head downward where Sam lifted his knee right into the mask of the man which brought him right into the path of the knives again being lowered. Sam used the unconscious body of the White Fang member to vault over and launch his feet at another. While one of them was recovering from the blwo Sam lashed out at the last remaining one. He flipped the knives in his hand so they pointed outward and clanged off the blade of the faunus man. Each slash parried each blow until a strike by the two knives caught the man off guard enough for Sam to use his leg to kick the sword out of the man's hand. The faunus man met a fist hitting his chin as he was lifted upward slightly before Sam used his other fist to collide with his cheek. The final member who was sent sprawling got back up to see his whole group had been dealt with, but he was either stupid or brave, he brandished a pistol and shot at him. Like natural instincts Sam was able to use the blades to deflect the bullets with ease, the sparks and sounds pleasing to see by the young Saxophonist. When the man realised his clip was emptied Sam placed the two blades back into their slots in the Alto Cannon letting the energy course through them. Quickly Sam got behind the White Fang member and placed the weapon close to his back before firing. Thankfully they had some type of armor so they didn't you know, end up like the Creep during the first 'field test'. When he looked around he saw that no one was left standing in his group of thugs. The adrenaline lowered for a minute for him to realize what he had just done. He wiped his brow and thanked all those training sessions with Team CFVY, especially the 'Bullet Blocking and Deflecting Lesson' Coco insisted on teaching. It could have been because she enjoyed watching them all suffer for the longest time, but maybe… just maybe she did it to help. The sound of gunfire shook Sam back to the battlefield. He saw Blake and Sun taking on Torchwick. And Sun had… Nunchucks that functioned as guns! 'Gunchucks' (I am so sorry)! He had to get a piece of that cake. That's when he saw Torchwick aim for a suspended shipping container. The blast was enough to drop the massive metal crate and the two were forced to separate. Sam was able to run over to Blake.

"Blake are you okay?" Sam asked as she was exhaling heavily.

"Yeah, just fine," she answered, much to the relief, "he's a way better fighter than I thought though." Her head shot up realizing something, "Sun!" He was on the other side.

"Hey!" A voice yelled from afar.

All parties: Roman, Sun, Blake, and Sam saw Ruby on the roof with her trusty partner Crescent Rose at the ready. "Oh hello Red!" Roman greeted in a mocking tone, "Isn't it a little past your bedtime?"

Something seemed to distract Ruby, Sam and Blake couldn't see exactly what, but Torchwick caught wind of it and fired a devastating flare at the young huntress. "Ruby!" Sam yelled before seeing Ruby flop out of eyesight. Sam stood up and was going to make his way to Roman before he caught sight of another figure landing on the field of battle. It was… "Penny?" and she was controlling swords via… telepathy? Telekinesis? Sam didn't know how she was controlling, but damn was it cool. She was dispatching the grunts with ease. Groups of five, ten, a dozen cut down like grass when faced with a sickle. Three more ships (seriously how many of these damn things do they have) came from the skyline and fired shots at the girl only to be blocked by a flurry of swords. She shot two of them back into the wall and used whatever tethering technique she used to pull her back. The remaining swords formed a circle and acted like a cone of energy. Summoning a green amorphous blob growing large by the second. At the opportune time she fired a laser that could give the Cyclops from X-men a run for his money. It cleaved the two airships like a pizza cutter in pizza. The four pieces of ship flew over the whole dock and crashed in the ocean. Another one fell to the ground as Penny seemed to tether the blades to the ship and pull the metal beast in like fish. In all the confusion Sam noticed another Bullhead take off, he saw Roman on it and sneered at the criminal. _Dammit, I should've gone after him._

"Hey," Sun's voice caught both Blake and Sam's attention, "you doing alright?"

"Never better," Sam sarcastically retorted.

"Hey," Sun punched Sam's shoulder like you would to a friend, "you did good Sam.

"Damn right I did good," Sam chuckled, "you made me jump off a building you lunatic."

"What?"

"In my world that means death."

"Well we aren't in your world."

"Ain't that the truth."

"Umm, guys," Blake said dusting herself off, "aren't we forgetting something?"

It took them two seconds.

"Holy shit Ruby!"

"Who?" Sun asked.

"We'll fill you in later," Sam said as he ran to where Ruby was last seen, "Penny! We need to get Ruby!"

The group of Ruby, Penny, Sun, Blake, and Sam sat around a few crates made as makeshift chairs. No one had said much aside from what the police asked for. Sam was incredibly reluctant to give his identification and name, but was persuaded by Ruby to do so. Blake told and showed Ruby her cat ears to which the little girl instantly fell in love with. The sound of the loudest pair of heels could only mean one thing: Weiss. They all turned their attention to see Weiss, Yang, and the green knight Travis. Sam gave a sigh of relief when he saw his teammate. It was hard to give the whole 'Truth Speech' more than once a day due to the amount of questions. Ruby stood up to defend Blake's actions.

"Look Weiss it's not what you think, she explained the whole thing you see, she doesn't actually wear a bow she has kitty ears and they're actually kinda cute," Ruby bolted off every very quickly trying to prevent a repeat of yesterday.

"Weiss," Blake explained, "I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was wit-"

"Stop," Weiss ordered, "do you have any idea how long we've been searching for you?" Weiss made sure to pause for dramatic effect. "Twelve hours-"

"Oh dear god we've been looking for half a goddamn day?" Travis asked aloud.

"That means," Weiss steered the conversation back on track from Travis' outburst, "I've had twelve hours to think about this. And in that twelve hours I've decided…" Everyone in the group sort of leaned in to hear the heiress' response. "I don't care!"

"You don't care? "Blake asked puzzled.

"You said you're not one of them anymore, right?"

"No, I-I haven't been since I was younger-"

"Upupupupup!" Weiss stopped Blake, "I don't wanna hear it. All I want to know, is that the next time something this big comes up you'll come to your teammates, and not some…" she looked over to Sun and Sam, "someone else."

Blake looked to all members present who all nodded in response. Wiping away a small tear, "Of course."

Ah it was a happy moment, a wonderful moment. And then Ruby had to speak, goddammit. "Yeah Team RWBY is back together!"

The group got in a circle and Weiss turned to Sun and pointed a ginger to him, "I'm still not quite sure how I feel about you!"

Sun just laughs nervously at Weiss comment. "Hey, wait a minute," Ruby's voice cuts in, "where's Penny?" The group looks around to find their… odd friend is nowhere to be found.

"Ah, I'm sure she's okay sis, she'll be fine. But in the meantime," Yang looks over to Travis, "you have some explaining to do."

"Who me?" Travis jokes.

"Yeah, you," Yang appeared not to be joking, "you never explained your comment about perspective."

"Ah, yes you remembered that, you'll want to sit down," he motions to the crates and quizzically Ruby, Weiss, and Yang sit. Blake, Sun, and Sam soon follow but they already know what's going on.

"So what's this about?" Ruby asks. She was separated from the group so she never heard Travis comment earlier in the day.

"Sam," Travis turns to his fellow earthling, "have you told these two?" Sam nods and Travis gives a relieves sigh, "Good, it might help if they can help with the explanation."

"What's this about Travis?" Weiss asks.

"From the very first day we came to Beacon you four have tried the most to figure out our origins. You have interrogated us, barged into our conversations, and eavesdropped on us. For a good time we didn't think we could trust you, but your unyielding trust in your friends has convinced us we can trust you."

"Travis, just tell us," Yang barked.

Travis exhaled. "Team BRRS; Brandon Rainwater, Travis Basco, Reese Martins, and Samuel Perish, we are from another dimension." Travis didn't really beat around the bush there.

Shock, was the only thing on that could be registered on Yang's, Weiss', and Ruby's faces. "What now?" Ruby asked.

"We come from whole other universe Ruby, our home is a planet called 'Earth'."

"Huh?" Yang managed to get out.

"Earth a planet nearly the same size of Remnant comprised of precisely one hundred and ninety six countries divided into seven continents, although one of them in uninhabitable."

"Countries?"

"Think of them as your kingdoms but more democracy based and incredibly more complex than what you have here in Vale or Atlas. In our Home, the United States of America we have the federal government, the state government, the local government, not to mention school boards and-"

"Wait! Hold on for a moment!" Yang's anger flared, "Travis, slow down!"

"My apologies, how about you ask me what you feel is necessary? I'll try to make it simple this time."

"Okay," Yang calmed down, "let's start this over. Where are you from?"

"We are from a planet called 'Earth' while it may look like Remnant on the outside, it is vastly different."

"In what way?"

"Well to use a basic example, we don't have Dust."

"What?!" Weiss practically shouted, "How do you defend against the Grimm?"

"We don't have the Grimm either."

"So what do you with your huntsman and huntresses?" Ruby asked.

"Don't have those either."

"So how do people use their Semblances?"

"Got none of those back Home."

"Well what do you have on this 'Earth'?" Weiss was slowly losing her cool.

Travis chuckled and looked down to remember his Home."We have people, we have love and emotions. We live our lives to the fullest. We never back down from a challenge. We have traveled to our moon and sent machines to distant planets. But we have shed much blood against one another. Our world have seen whole cities destroyed by a single detonation of horror and we have slain brothers in wars that have engulfed the entire world. We make music that pleases the soul and create masterpiece paintings that ask deep internal question. We cheer for teams of our home towns to win a game for us and we bond over a glorious victory or a crushing defeat. We have faced massive hurricanes and shattering earthquakes, plagues that outbreaks that have ripped through people, but we survived through it all. So Miss Schnee when you ask me what does Earth, my and my friend's Home, have I tell you this: it has a deep sordid history that makes yours look like a pop up book. Earth is not something that can be described in this simple monologue, it must be experienced first-hand. Earth is not a just another place as you see it. It is my Home. So when you ask what Earth has, that's what it has, my Home."

"Damn," Sam said and all eyes turned to him, "I just showed them some of my I.D. and that seemed to do the trick."

"Yes, but you know how much I like to talk about Home."

"True, very true."

"Okay, let's just take a moment to swallow this," Yang paused the whole group, "you guys are from another world?"

"Correct."

"A world without Grimm, without Dust, without Semblances, and no huntsman or huntresses?"

"Yeah that's the basic jist of it."

"Okay, I believe ya," Yang seemed to accept it without a second thought.

"What?!" Weiss exclaimed, "Yang you can't possibly believe this?!"

"Why not? "She shrugged, "When we stole Travis' notebook we saw he wrote the most basic stuff about Dust and the Grimm. No one who in this world doing what we do would have to write that kind of stuff down."

"But… they… how… they look like us!"

"And?" Travis raised an eyebrow.

"You're practically aliens!" Weiss yelled in response.

"Aw, cool!" Ruby realised, having friends who were aliens was totally awesome.

"We are not aliens Weiss," Travis made Ruby sort of frown, "aliens are classified as 'extraterrestrials'. The term 'extraterrestrials' means we come from a planet within your dimensions. We come from an outside dimension, and may I point out we are humans we just happened to be from a different universe. The correct term, I believe, would be 'extra-dimensionals'. Don't believe me? Ask your teammate Blake."

The three looked to Blake who simply nodded. Weiss sighed, one of defeat, and Travis noticed it. "I understand this is a lot to take in, it was hard for Glynda and Team CFVY to fully accept it."

"Team CFVY?" Yang asked.

"They saved us from the Grimm and the…" Travis looked to Blake with sorrowful eyes, "White Fang. They shot at me, and Sam fainted at the sight of Beowulf." The group all chuckled at the expense of Sam who was not pleased. "We were travelling on a band trip and we got caught in a blast that, somehow, transported us into your world. I don't know exactly how, and I don't understand myself, but I know this is real, and that it isn't a coma induced dream."

"That's why you were with Team CFVY yesterday," Ruby figured out.

"They were the only ones who knew, the only ones we could confide in about how much we missed Home or the ones who we could tell our problems to without asking questions."

"So… why wait to tell us?" Ruby asked, a little hurt actually.

"Believe me when I say this, we didn't want anyone to know," this made all their heads turn to face Travis, "we didn't want to get any of you involved in our affairs. But you seem to do it anyway, and overtime we just sort of accepted that we were going to tell you guys one day, when we could trust you fully. I was going to tell you guys yesterday, but yesterday happened."

Travis felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist, he looked down to see Ruby hugging him closely. "Thank you for trusting us. I'll make sure no one else knows about your secret."

Travis smiled like tired father, he placed a hand on Ruby's head. "You're welcome, and thank you." It was a tender moment, a rare moment when Travis was at peace and content.

"Hey," Sam said to the group, "let's go back to Beacon,"

"Sounds good." Yang agreed.

"Yeah." Weiss too.

"Please, I've been walking around in this armor for twelve hours. Us earthlings aren't used to this crap."

"Shut up I had to fight a guy with eyeliner over one of his eyes."

"Guy sounds angsty."

"Probably."

Professor Ozpin, the illustrious headmaster of Beacon academy sat in the Tower overlooking his academy. He had been notified of the battle that took place in the docks by the Vale police since it involved his students. A live feed of Ruby was shown before the large scroll beeped saying he had a new message. He swiped the feed away and opened the message.

 _MSG: Queen has pawns.~ Qrow._

"Hmm," he thought aloud, then a second message popped up.

 _MSG: How are 'they' doing?~ Qrow._

Ozpin chuckled at Qrow's constant pestering of the new kids. _They're doing just fine.~ Ozpin._

Travis and Sam slowly walked through the halls of Beacon in silence. Team RWBY had gotten ahead of them, and no one really knew where Sun went after they got on the airship. The silence was nice, it was needed. So much of their weekend had been spent on arguing, fighting, and arguing. The silence proved to be the great equalizer of men. No matter how angry, how productive, how far you can get. The silence always brings you back.

"Sam."

"Yeah Travis?"

"I'm proud of what you did yesterday and today."

"What do you mean?"

"You made a conscious decision to go to Blake and console her, not only that but you took it upon yourself to assess the situation and you handled it with maturity. You took it upon yourself to tell her our secret, no matter the consequence. I would be terrified to do that."

"Thanks man. I mean you still had to it to three people at once, I only had to talk to two and I barely knew one of them."

"I feel sorry for Reese."

"What makes you say that?"

"That," Travis pointed forward.

Sam looked to see a group of five. Reese and Team JNPR laughing down the halls, probably a little too loud for the time it was but they didn't care.

"Oh, Travis! What's up?" Reese greeted when he noticed the two, "Sam! Good to see you're okay."

"Was I really in danger?" Sam charismatically asked.

"Well there was Penny?" Travis recollected all the time he mentioned the words 'meat locker' and 'Penny' in the same sentence.

"Very funny," Sam teased.

"I thought so."

"No," Jaune suddenly said surprising the two, "what's funny is what you said to your band teacher. That was just awful!"

It took Travis a while to realize what Jaune was trying to subliminally say underneath the message, then he figured it out. "Oh! I see you found the license."

Reese paused, "Wait you left the license in the open?"

"Yeah, I knew it was only a matter of time before a certain pancake loving girl would want to barge into our room when we were gone. You may be stupid, but you're not stupid to leave out something that vital to our charade here."

"Gee, why don't I feel better?" Reese asked sarcastically.

"F**k you Reese I was trying to help."

"F**k you too man."

"F**K you both I want to get some sleep," Sam interjected.

"Yes that sounds like a good idea," Pyrrha agreed, "goodnight guys."

"See ya tomorrow Pyrrha," Reese waved in goodbye before they closed their door leaving the three Team BBRS members alone in the hallway.

"We did it," Travis announced.

"You told Team RWBY?" Reese was honestly surprised.

"Yep, we're all safe now, if someone else comes and asks, they can help us," Travis explained.

"We'll that's a relief."

"Yeah a huge weight just lifted off my shoulders," Sam said just as relieved.

"I honestly feel like we have very little to worry about," Travis admitted.

"Except being killed by one of these trained and, let's not forget, hormonal teenagers," Reese pointed out.

"Yes there is that, but besides that it's going to be smooth sailing," Travis unlocked the dorm room door.

"Don't jinx us, god knows what will happen around every corner."

"C'mon Reese you're worrying too much. What could possibly-OH SWEET BABY JESUS!"

"Brandon?!"

"What the F**K man?!"

The reason for their sudden outburst was seeing their team leader, Brandon Rainwater, sitting shirtless in his bed with Velvet, the member of Team CFVY who only had a long shirt barely going past her… (ahem) 'pleasurables'.

"Umm," Brandon saw how bad this looked, "I can explain?"

 **My hands hurt, oh so much. That was a lot of writing, and a lot of exposition. I know that I basically did**

 **the same talk twice just with two different people in the same chapter. I thought long and hard about it and felt like it would kind of give us a perspective, even if some of it was poorly written in my taste, from two different angles. I do admit that I kind of glossed over the Penny scene in this, which arguably was the best part of the episode, but I honestly didn't have a reason to really write that out because it didn't involve any of my characters. I'm not trying to sound petty or mean. It's just that the story is supposed to focus on Team BBRS. Yes they interfere at certain points in the RWBY timeline, they will not alter major events FYI, but in the end this is their story. Anyways thanks for reading this really long chapter filled with exposition. See ya later suckers.**


	10. Chapter 10: Coco's Wrath Pt 1

**Author's Note: Welcome back bitches! So quick side note, these next few chapters will be primarily non-plot orientated. Since we are in the semester break before Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. So these chapters will include a little bit of hijinks in them. You can expect about three or four of these chapters before we go to Vol. 2, which let me tell you will be a doozy.**

Chapter 10: Coco's Wrath Pt 1

"F**K! F**K! F**K!" Travis yelled running through the campus of Beacon Academy.

"Jesus Christ that woman is overprotective!" Reese noted firing a few shots from his pistols indiscriminately behind them.

"Really?!" Sam shouted while the three ran for their collective lives, "I didn't F*****G notice Reese!"

"Just making an observation!" Reese shouted back to his teammate.

"Come on!" Travis exclaimed pointing to the landing platform, "If we can get into the city, then maybe we can lose her!"

"It looks like one is about to leave," Sam narrowed his vision, "if we hurry we can make it."

"Reese!" Travis looked to his Mandalorian Armor clad friend who nodded, he knew what to do.

The jetpack on Reese' back ignited and he sped off. "On it!" Quickly he flew threw the air like a rock being thrown at someone. The door of the bullhead was about to close until Reese propped it up forcefully. A pilot was about to demand what Reese was doing. "Don't ask," Reese cut him off by raising his fist as his Semblance flared up and his fist becoming engulfed in flames, "we're being chased by a mad woman." The pilot seemed to understand, perhaps he had to deal with this sort of thing before. But told Reese his friends would have to hurry, he could give them five minutes at best. Reese's eye widened behind his helmet as he laid eyes on the person who the three had been running from the entire day. "Travis! Sam! Hurry she's right behind you!"

Travis looked behind him, moving his axe that was latched onto his back out of the way, and his heart leapt into his throat trying to find shelter to avoid a painful demise. "Oh shit! Sam use the Alto Cannon to accelerate yourself to the ship."

"What about you?!" Sam asked.

"Don't worry about me, I got an idea," Travis tapped his temple twice.

Sam appeared to understand the message Travis was trying to get across. "Ok, good luck," Sam started to walk backwards for a quick second before firing the Alto Cannon. The loud guitar-like sound blasted Sam into the air where he landed right in front of the Bullhead. He saw how far Travis had left, and then he saw the woman who was catching up to him. "Travis hurry! I don't think we have long!"

 _Okay let's try this,_ Travis thought before bringing up his palm. He closed his eyes and focused, focused hard, on what he needed. Travis needed a way to accelerate, and make it snappy. His eyes flickered a light blue like a broken light bulb. He slapped his head and the light stayed constant swallowing his pupils and iris. _Accursed Semblance,_ he shook his head and thought of what he needed. In front of Travis two wheels materialized out of a blue tinged aura, then some light blue material fixed itself between the wheels. A seat found its way on top along with front forks, fenders, and a loud as ass engine. A motorcycle, because why the f**k not? The bike flipped itself as if it was going to run away from Travis. Grabbing the handles he swung the bike around getting his legs above to where they rested comfortably at the sides of the bike. He revved the engine which roared to life and the rear wheel squealed as it raced to the bullhead. The sound of bullets whizzing past and landing on the ground next to Travis forced him to slightly swerve in and out. When he got close, the bullhead began to close. _They're going to make me work for this one._ Angling the bike downward his armor skidded and sent sparks flying on the ground as he was on a crash course to the door. In a move that would have made Indiana Jones proud Travis' armor barely cleared the distance from the collapsing door when Travis jumped on the bike and slid off the floor. The axe wielder hit the far wall of the Bullhead as he had no way to slow himself down. The bike had disappeared before he entered the aircraft, but his eyes were still glowing light blue.

"Ow," Travis simply said catching his breath as his body splayed itself on the ground. Travis' eyes stopped glowing returning to their natural state.

"Okay that's pretty freaky," Sam stated, he had never seen Travis' Semblance. Only Travis, Reese, Blake, and Coco had really seen his Semblance in action.

"Wait till you see him fight alongside one of his drawings," Reese said removing his helmet and taking a seat.

Sam just looked at Travis, then to Reese, and back to Travis. "In this world I'm amazed I'm surprised by anything anymore."

"Ain't that the truth," Travis nodded getting himself off the ground. He took a look of his armor and narrowed on the scuff marks on the ends. "If we survive this I'm going to kill Brandon."

"Not unless she gets him first," Reese snorted.

"Now then," the three members of Team BBRS turned to see one of the pilots of the Bullhead standing before them with his two hands clasped together, "can someone explain to me why three huntsmen in training were running for their lives and being so daring as to scrape themselves in at the last second." The pilot turned his head to Travis who immediately shot his head down.

"Well you see, we… uh, kind of had an altercation," Sam explained, he was always better at dealing with strangers.

"What kind of 'altercation'?" The pilot asked.

"Do you know a Miss Coco Adel?" Sam asked.

"Perhaps."

"Well then this will be a hell of a story. You see last night me and my friends here were with some friends and we had just gotten back to our room only to find…"

 **-Last Night in the Team BBRS dorm room after The Truth was explained to RWBY and JNPR-**

"...OH SWEET BABY JESUS!" Travis yelled at the top of his lungs as he shielded his eyes.

"Brandon!" Reese raised his voice to absurd levels.

"What the F**K man?!" Sam asked shielding his eyes slightly, but still looked every now and then.

The reason for their sudden outburst was seeing their team leader, Brandon Rainwater, sitting shirtless in his bed with Velvet, the member of Team CFVY who only had a long shirt barely going past her… (ahem) 'pleasurables'.

"Umm," Brandon saw how bad this looked, "I can explain?" His face gave a nervous smile.

"Hell yeah you should be able to explain!" Travis exclaimed, "What?! We run off to go tell our big secret and here you are with Velvet making what appears to be Earthling-Bunnies!"

Sam nearly wretched at the idea of someone as innocent as Velvet doing the unspeakable with… Brandon, their team leader, their friend, and apparently Pleaser of Fanus. _Ugh, I don't wanna think about that,_ the Saxophonist was about to wretch like Jaune on an airship but was able to hold it in.

Brandon and Velvet both blushed wildly and averted their eyes away from everyone, including each other. "Travis," Reese said, "can we not think about that please?"

"Tell Brandon to take a cold shower and maybe I will," Travis quickly retorted.

"We weren't doing anything," Brandon meekly said keeping his gaze away from his fellow earthlings.

"Sure you weren't," Travis sarcastically agreed, "and I secretly have been taking Yang out on dates." Travis took a minute at what he said and saw that all eyes were on him. After the two's confrontation during the first few weeks of school many made jokes that they just used the bad blood to secretly see each other. The two had even been called 'The Perfect Couple' by Nora. Travis realized what they all were thinking. "I'm just kidding," he made sure to clear up any confusion.

"Well with that out of the way," Reese quickly moved the topic back, "can you please explain the rather compromising position you two are in?" Reese was the first to move from the doorway and sat on his bed resting his head angled on the headboard being supported by his hands. Sam loosened the insect like legs that clamped to his arm and placed the Alto Cannon in its place close to the wall, he then went to sit on his bed. Travis was the last and sighed as he grabbed the axe on his back, he rested the large weapon in the corner and loosened his armor so he could relax in his desk chair.

Velvet really hadn't known what to do, she stood in the middle of the room as if she were on display. It was incredibly awkward to all five people in the room. She fidgeted her hands trying to make some kind of speak. "Should I-um-I mean-where should I-"

"Use the spare bed," Travis pointed to the one untouched bed in the corner of the room. Velvet assumed this was supposed to be Travis', but since he apparently preferred to sleep in a chair, it looked like a fresh bed that had never been used.

She sat on the bed and immediately noticed Travis, Sam, and Reese avert or cover their eyes as a small blush overcame their faces. She realized the shirt Brandon had given her was long, but not quite long enough. She herself blushed and made a small noise as she pulled the covers over her bare legs. "Uhp!" Was the sound she made, "I'm sorry."

Travis removed the hand that rested comfortably on his head and sighed. "Okay," he breathed out, "can you explain what's happening here?"

"Yeah, but I just want you to know, we weren't planning on doing anything," Brandon quickly stipulated.

"I'll try to keep that in mind," Travis shrugged lightly as he removed the lower pieces of his armor, "just tell us the truth." That was a phrase they had heard all too often, it was odd being on the different end of that spectrum. Here they were asking their friend as to why they were in this 'interesting' position.

"Well you see…" Brandon said.

 **-Flashback to yesterday when Travis and Sam were in Vale, Reese was with JNPR, Brandon was walking back from some training (should we have the 'Hans Zimmer Bwoom' for the 'Flashback-ception' we're experiencing)-**

Brandon was walking down the halls of Beacon. The team leader of the enigmatic Team BBRS was now nursing his shoulder rotating it in circles. _Oh god, I'm not lifting that much again by myself._ The Earthling in the world of Remnant than thought about all that had happened in their time here.

It started as a simple trip going down to California from Washington, they were to play a 'tour' going to a few colleges that had invited them there. Many weeks of planning, replanning, and even more planning all took place before the trip was a 'go'. Brandon, and the rest of Team BBRS, were going to help get some things situated, a whole group of nearly sixty people would be tough to contain. Then from there it all went south, not the direction but just…everything else. They crashed, expected to be dead, and ended up in this crazy world. This world full of monsters, magic, and superpowers. It was breathtaking, and also incredibly nerve racking. Just think about it: Here were these four band kids, who played musical instruments for their main outlet of creativity, they had no experience in fighting that required life and death decision, and they sure as hell didn't belong here…all of them knew it. But then, at the same time, why did they feel like they did? Not even Travis, the de facto 'smart one' of the group had that answer, knew the answer. Could it have been that the people were friendly? No, Brandon had seen some dismal sights the first day he arrived at Beacon and heard some awful things. Was it the fact that maybe they, in their part, have attached themselves to the inhabitants? Probably not, Reese was pretty adamant about not hanging out with much of anybody. Quite possibly could it be… no that couldn't be it… could it. The very thought made Brandon stop just as he reached the outside courtyard. His eyes widened and his breathing hitched. Could it be because…

 _We like it here?_

The Trombone player didn't think he could deny the fact that he had made many friends and enjoyed his time, but they missed home…right? Earth was everything to them, it was their Home, all their friends were there and their families were probably mourning them right now, Home was where their lives were. Their _real_ lives were. They weren't hunters, or warriors to protect the peace. They were students in a world where knights and monster died out eons ago, not where they had to train people, teenagers, to fight. The whole thing didn't sit right in his stomach, honestly it was a toss up of this whole thing being a coma-induced dream or the afterlife. Travis ruled out the coma-induced dream but even he said it could just be one of their brains making responses. They all laughed at the idea that this was the 'after-life' whether it was heaven or hell. Sam put his money on hell. However, there was a third option, a third more ludicrous option. Travis nearly went off in a rage-fueled rant when Reese told him the first day they arrived.

 _That this, the world of Remnant, was reality, and we are the outsiders looking in._

It was hard to think about it, but yeah, there is a chance that all of this was real. The school, Dust, the Grimm, CFVY, JNPR, and RWBY were really real. They weren't dreaming and they weren't paying for any sins, you know except for the 'Swear Jar' Coco makes Travis pay into. All of this could. Be. Real.

Brandon thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of laughter, and lots of it. The sounds made him think of Home more and more. The days when he was in band with all his friends, it pained him to think so. How much did he wish to be back Home. But there was always that sticking point Travis would always hammer home.

" _Guys, I think we need to accept the possibility we may_ _ **never**_ _be able to go back Home."_

It hit like a truck when Travis said it, and Reese nearly hit Travis like a truck. A fight nearly broke out, but none were angry at Travis. He just said the awful, awful, truth. They may never be able to return Home, to Earth, to their friends and families. But as usual Sam was the ray of sunshine.

" _If we found a way to get here, then there must be a way back. You have to agree Travis, that it is practically Newtonian." Sam offered._

" _For every reaction there is an equal, and opposite, reaction." Travis recited, "Yes, I'm aware but it might not be that easy. I want to go Home as much as all of you do, I'm just saying it might take awhile."_

" _How long is 'awhile'?" Sam asked_

" _Gee, last time I checked I'm not Albert Einstein, this world doesn't even have space travel, let alone interdimensional travel. Hell we don't even have that! I'll try though, but we probably need to think about what we have in front of us right now." Goddam was Travis sarcastic_

" _Yes, we first have to survive this crazy school." Brandon told his team speaking for the first time in this conversation._

" _Look on the bright side, at least if we go back we have a f******g awesome story to tell the others."_

The senior wrestle chuckled at Sam's last comment, but then his demeanor slowly sobered. The laughing he was hearing now turned sour, like spoiled milk. He saw one of the first years and his team. _Caden… no… Carl… No! Cardin! That was his name._ Brandon had been told to avoid him and any of his actions. But for some reason, he felt dragged to him. He saw his three teammates around him laughing at something, or someone. They were around one of the fountains on campus, because they had multiple fountains in this world littering campuses. They were pointing at something. They were laughing at someone, with each step Brandon grew a sneer that didn't fit his usual persona. He had gotten right behind Cardin, but none had noticed his presence. Brandon's eyes, mind, and soul flared with pure rage at the sight that was before him. Velvet Scarlatina, the rabbit faunus, Brandon and the rest of Team BBRS' friend was in the fountain water. Likely pushed, judging by the way she looked. Her uniform was drenched and her hair covered her eyes and her ears were slightly drooped. Her head looked down and kept her gaze away from her attackers, she looked ashamed as they let them bully her, as she let the words sting. Brandon was going to have none of it.

"So," Brandon announced from behind the group scaring them all somewhat, "what's going on here?"

"Wha?" Cardin turned, "It doesn't concern you. We're just showing a freak what happens when you bump into me. A price has to be paid."

Cardin's teammates all let out some snickering and talked amongst themselves. Brandon just narrowed his gaze and felt like punching Cardin, but he needed to keep his cool. "The only freaks I see is the four people who resort to such childish tactics."

Cardin somewhat laughed at Brandon's comment. "Hah. childish? We're just giving this faunus freak what she deserves."

Brandon's fist clenched as the words practically stabbed into him. The idea of using force was escalating. Brandon who looked at Velvet who only could stare and not say a word, either out of fear or out of worry of what might happen to her earthling friend. "You know what Cardin? You're the one who needs to learn what you deserve. You're nothing but a bully, and a bad one at that too. You're so weak, so pathetic, that you have to resort to attacking students who appear to be weak outside of sparring class. You're not man enough to take a f*****g loss. I bet someone like Jaune could take you out right now."

That last one stuck with Cardin, for obvious reasons. Who was Brandon, this kid who just showed up one day, leads a team of outcasts that swore worse than anyone else in the school, makes friends with these animals, and then feels like he needed to be told off? And not only that he said Jaune could beat him in a fight?! Oh this kid didn't know what was in store for him. "You know, Brandon, you seem like a nice guy. Maybe not perfect like me, but a nice guy. So I'm going to let you walk away and I'll pretend like this never happened, and I'll go back to showing this freak her place."

"No."

"No what?"

"No, I'm not going to move, I'm not going to run like you would, I'm going to be anything but you. I'm going to stand by Velvet, by my friend, and actually be a f*****g good person. I'm not you Cardin, I don't want to be you. You disgust me, you make me think of days long gone."

"Oh? And what days are those?"

"The days where I _was_ you."

Brandon stood defiant as he stared mercilessly into Cardin's soul. The final point put all to silence. Brandon was like… Cardin? Cardin Winchester? Beacon's biggest bully, the guy who is the bane of faunus at this school? Brandon was once like him?

"It was a long time ago," Brandon explained, "back Home when I was just a stupid kid, but I was old enough to know what I was doing. There was this kid back in our school, he was one of the smartest and understanding, he would try to help and do his best to answer your question. He would know about things you couldn't think of and laugh along with you. But while he was smart, he was incredibly gullible. I don't know how many days I did, but I constantly pestered him, got on his nerves, and made his life a living hell. I would forcibly get in his way and make him pay for it, I would force him to do my work and treat him like shit. And you want to know what happened? He snapped. That once nice kid, now turned into a stone cold smart ass. He didn't want to help anyone, and he barely would give you the time of day. He barely had trust and would constantly berate you and make you feel worthless. He had a way of sucking out your soul because he was better than you and everyone knew. Before I knew it, our roles had somewhat reversed. I became disgusted by the monster I had made, and he turned into someone who would make your life a literal hell. And the worst part of it all? I had to look at his face everyday and I had to see that once warm and kind kid turn into a cold, calculative, and assertive monster that he is now." Brandon had been looking down at his feet for most of his monologue. "So Cardin, bully all you want, but just be damn well aware that your actions have some f*****g consequences. One day Velvet may take it, but the next day she may retaliate. And I've seen you fight, you suck ass, major ass, so prepare yourself for a fight. And if you don't-" Brandon brandished the Grimm Mourne and pointed the tip of the blade at Cardin, "then I will be willing to take you on."

There was dead silence in the air, a cricket dared not even to make a sound. The gleaming silver blade of the Grimm Mourne pointed right at Cardin's nose. A stoic expression on Brandon's face as he stared down a fellow leader. Could Brandon take on all four on in a fight? Don't know. They were only in their school attire while Brandon was decked out and ready for combat, so he did have the upper hand. Cardin, being the asshole he was, shrugged and scoffed. "Come on guys, let's leave this overconfident loser to his faunus freak." Cardin left, followed by his three cronies who all whispered amongst themselves.

Brandon then stared at them, he could have surprised them by tackling from behind, but nothing would be gained from that. He sighed and placed his sword on his back. "Umm...Brandon?" The Trombone player heard behind him. Brandon turned to see Velvet was still in the fountain looking at him in sorrow.

Brandon walked over and offered her a hand. "Come on, you stay in there and you'll get a cold." The rabbit faunus gladly took it and was pulled out of the water. Her hair and uniform dripped with water, if it weren't for the somber conversation Brandon would have made a comment on how stunning Velvet looked right now. But this was not the opportune time.

"Brandon?" She looked up as she clung to the earthling's shoulder for a bit of warmth from the cold water. She honestly didn't know what to say, Brandon had just said he was once like Cardin. He was a bully, a man with no respect. Brandon looked down to Velvet's face and could see her mix of disappointment, and sorrow, in her face.

"I'm sorry," he said as he opened the door to the dorm building, "but he needed to be taught a lesson."

"But you were lying…right," _please tell me you were lying._

"No, Velvet, I was not, in a previous life I was a man who lived to make people's days worse while it boosted my ego. I preyed on the weak and the helpless because I thought it was funny, god a I was such a piece of shit."

Velvet immediately slapped him across the face. Brandon stood there, his face still stuck in that position. _Is she angry, or disappointed?_ Whatever it was, Brandon didn't feel like he should answer, unless he made the situation worse.

"Brandon, I want to answer me honestly," she waited for Brandon to nod, "are you anything like Cardin now?" Brandon shook his head. "Do you feel sorry for the things you did?" He nodded. "If you could, would you change the past?" Brandon nodded. Velvet then immediately turned around in front of him and hugged him.

"I'm sorry," he told her while she buried face into his shoulder, "I should've told you earlier."

Velvet removed herself from Brandon and the two walked in silence, an awkward silence at that too. Velvet thought Brandon was the stand up guy in the group of earthlings. Reese was the quiet one, Sam was the fun one, Brandon held a certain sense of honor, and Travis was the…calculative, the assertive. Her face changed when she realized the parallels between the kid Brandon had mentioned, and Brandon could see her face. He sighed, he felt awful about what he did back then.

"Yes Velvet," he said, "what you're assuming is correct. It was Travis who I tortured relentlessly."

"But…why?" She asked.

"Looking back I don't know why. He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. The guy nearly punched me when he snapped, someone else got in the way and he ended up knocking one of their teeth out. That was when I realized I went too far, I tried to apologize a while later. I still remember the sneer, the anger in his eyes, the line I had crossed. 'Do not assume that just because I did not act on your insistent need to berate me, I knew it all along but hoped you would stop, but you didn't'. That was the first time I had heard that refined voice he carries, it's the only thing left from his cold, calculative days."

"Wait," Velvet said, "'the only thing left'? You mean he isn't like that anymore?"

Brandon thought about it for a while."More or less, keep in mind this was nearly almost eight years ago, we all grow. We both moved on, but he still harbored resentment towards me. We both had experiences that changed us, in more ways than one."

"Like what?"

"Well we both had close proximity in band class, we were just a row behind. But the big one was when we both got caught up in the wrong crowd." Brandon looked to Velvet who only grew more worried. "Nothing happened, we were on one of our band trips when we got separated from our group. It was just the two of us, two old enemies next to each other. We tried cutting through an alley to get across but ended up catching someone trying to pickpocket us. The guy immediately ran off with my wallet and we went after him. He pulled out a knife but we were able to get him down on the ground and kick the knife away, but not before he got a swing in. I got nicked across the forehead and Travis just about beat his face in. I had to hold him back from going any farther and we skedaddled off. We got to talking while we ate taking a break from regrouping with our lost friends. I apologized to him again, hoping things were going to be different, Travis just laughed. 'Brandon, that was nearly seven years ago, I think we have both grown and moved on from then. If either of us haven't let me say that all you've done is forgiven,' was what he told me." Brandon paused a bit, was he…crying? "Velvet," he said wiping a tear, "Travis and I have been through a lot. We were once two people who wished for the other to be dead, and then we were two people able to move on and become friends. I know what I said may have hurt you, and I'm sorry if you thought I am still like Cardin, but may I ask for your forgiveness?"

Velvet was a little dumbfounded to say the least, what could she say? She honestly had no clue, it was rather difficult to say something when someone tells you a deep and dark secret. "You earthlings are so difficult to deal with," Velvet smiled, seeming to find her answer.

Brandon smiled back to the rabbit faunus, and noticed they had made it to their room. "Umm, would you like to come in?" He offered.

"Sure why not," the both felt awkward.

The two entered, each with a small blush. Sure they were both somewhat adults, but the situation was a little questionable. All three of Brandon's teammates were gone, him and Velvet… alone, in his room, she looked cold, and needed comf- _NO! Bad Brandon! We are not thinking like that! We made a promise to not go after one of the native until after we graduate._ "Uh…" man did they feel awkward, but then he noticed Velvet sneeze, "do you want to use our shower?"

"But um…" Velvet's blush grew, "I don't have any clothes."

"Right sorry," _whew! Dodged a bullet there._

"But, it's getting late and Coco hates being woken up late at night when she finally gets some sleep."

"Well the last thing I want to do is disturb Coco," Brandon remembered the welts Travis came back after training. "So…what should we do? I have a few long shirts you could wear, and I'm sure we can find you something else to wear. I can leave the room if you want," man this whole conversation just got awkward all of a sudden.

"Umm…maybe, I don't know. You could just put some clothes in front of the door and I can just grab them," Velvet suggested.

"Sounds good," Brandon just wanted this to end, or at least his friends to come in the door.

Velvet went into the bathroom quickly and locked the door shortly after. When Brandon heard the shower inside start he went through his clothes and found a shirt that was a little long on him, someone of Velvet's frame should have no issue with it being a glorified cocktail dress. Brandon set it down on the ground just outside the bathroom door and got himself ready for bed. Quickly he put on some basic flannel pajama pants and put on a black tank top. He was about to close the drawer when something caught his eye. A picture frame was buried beneath the clothes. He knew what it was, and he knew why it was there. Brandon picked up the frame and looked at it as he got himself situated in his bed. The frame contained a large group of people all in tuxedos lined in three rows holding a variety of instruments. He could see himself, Travis, Reese, but Sam wasn't in the photo. Then his gaze fell on a few individuals who he never forgot to remember. They were the others who came on the trip. Kylie, Kendra, Franklin, and… who was the last one? _Lavender!_ That's who it was. When everything sort of settled down Brandon finally got around to asking Travis if maybe, just maybe, they crossed over.

" _I don't know Brandon, I couldn't tell you."_

Brandon knew it was a long shot, but even the longest shots are possible. Travis had no clue, not a rare sight but one that didn't happen often. Brandon hoped that either they were back on Earth, or at least safe. Wherever they were at, he wished they were safe. Even if it meant they were also on Remnant. Brandon had been so focused on that conversation he hadn't noticed Velvet get done and somewhat dressed. She pressed up close to Brandon who was still looking at the photo.

"What are you looking at?" The girl with the accent that reminded Brandon of the Australians.

"Ahh!" Brandon exclaimed in shock nearly dropping the photo.

"I'm sorry," she quickly apologized.

"It's no issue, you just snuck up on me," Brandon chuckled a bit.

"Sooo, what are you looking at?"

Brandon showed her the picture, "It's a picture of our band from last year, usually we get on at the end of the year, but since…you know…the whole coming to Remnant thing, it's one of the few things left I get to remember Home by." Damn that killed the mood.

"I'm sorry Brandon," Velvet said giving him back the picture.

The Trombone player looked at the picture as he held it just right in front of him down by his blanket covered legs. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying not to cry for a second time tonight. Goddamn why did Brandon have to be so emotional about this? Actually scratch that, they all were emotional about Earth, so really it was fine but he still didn't want to cry again. "It's tough," he simply said, "being away from Home, we've been gone for a long time, and we don't know if we can ever return, and we don't know if we would even recognize our Home. Who knows if time flows exactly like ours? Here one year might equal five back on Earth, ten years there equals one year here. We don't know, and we may never know. We're all just scared and-"

Brandon stopped talking when he felt Velvet wrap around him in a tight hug. _Damn! I didn't mean to say something that depressing. I just…I don't know what I was doing._

"It's okay Brandon," he heard Velvet say, "I'm sure you'll see your friends and family again someday."

Brandon smiled a bit and patted the rabbit faunus on the head. "Thanks Velvet, I really mean it," Velvet pulled away from the hug and stood there. The moment felt nice, it felt natural, and it was relaxing.

And then the other three came in. "...SWEET BABY JESUS!" And the rest is history.

 **-Back with the three and the pilot-**

"Wait, that's why you're being chased? Because your friend was a stand up guy?"

"No," Travis said, "you didn't let us finish. You see after we made our grand entrance…"

 **-Back to last night, just after Reese, Sam, and Travis walked in-**

Brandon had just got done explaining the events that led up to this. He did leave that Travis was the recipient of Brandon's bullying at a young age. Travis felt like that didn't matter anymore so no one really needed to know. Travis sat in his chair listening while drawing some more schematics of whatever the hell he would think of for some relief. Sam laid on the bed already to go to sleep, and Reese had taken a shower and sacked out on his bed. Sam soon followed suit and collapsed after his exhausting day fighting extremists. The lights were turned off in the room except for a single lamp Travis used to see on his desk. The sounds of a pencil tapping and the occasional 'Aw Dammit' coming from Travis when he would screw it up. The constant sounds kept the rabbit faunus up due to her enhanced hearing. Usually she would be used to it seeing as how Coco snored like a woodchipper (just don't tell her that), but the face Travis had on kept her up. It wasn't hateful or angry, not one of sadness or sorrow, but it was impossible to read. Velvet felt like taking a risk, even Travis was reasonable around her.

"Travis?" She called out quietly trying not to wake up the others.

His eyebrows raised up but he still kept his nose to the paper. "Yes?"

"Are you mad at Brandon?"

"No, not in particular."

"Are you mad at me?"

Travis stopped his pencil, and the tip of it cracked leaving a disgusting mark. He grabbed the pink eraser to correct the blemish. "No, I'm not angry at anyone."

"Then why are you being so quiet? You sort of muted yourself when Brandon brought up the whole 'bullying' thing."

Travis sighed and swiveled in his chair to face Velvet. "I assume he told you I was the victim of his constant pestering?" Velvet nodded, a little ashamed in doing so. "Well it's true, he made my life awful. There were days where I wished for him to be dead, days that I wish I was invisible, days where I could just disappear. However, we all must grow, and I realized that I cannot go along being this spiteful, and hate fueled person. Sure it took me years to realize that, and I will admit that still shows its ugly head every now and then, but I've come to terms with that."

"So why were you so quiet about it? Surely if you think-"

Travis stopped her by raising his hand signifying that he needed to interrupt. "Velvet, for years I was berated, made fun, and treated like dirt. That is a part of me much like how Cardin treats you. So I'm going to ask you. Would you be able to completely forget that?" Velvet shook her head 'no'. "Neither can I. I try to not dwell on the past and the mistakes we all have made, but I cannot deny it. Sure things have changed, but it still hurts to look back and remember those days." Travis then stretched and yawned and pulled a blanket over his legs. "Geez it's late," he said looking at the clock, "should probably think about getting some shut eye."

"Yeah maybe," Velvet said turning her back to Travis and laying in the spare bed. "Good night Travis."

"Night Velvet," Travis turned off the lamp on his desk and the room was completely swallowed by darkness.

 **-Back with the pilot-**

"That still doesn't answer my question."

"Good god do you not have any patients?" Reese threw his hands in the air.

"Not really since we land soon."

"Okay, fine, so after our little talk with Brandon, we wake up next morning to find…"

 **-Flashback to this morning-**

Reese woke up first after his neck shifted awkwardly and a ping of pain shot him out of his sleep. He tried to shift his body to fix his neck but he ended up falling off the bed first. After rubbing his head and shaking his mind open he stood up. Reese stretched his arms and the rest of body out to the sounds of his body regretting it. Reese saw the time and notice it was already eleven thirty. _Goddamn it. If semester hadn't ended yesterday we would have been seriously f****d._ Reese saw Sam sprawled out across the bed, Travis lopsided in his chair, and Brandon was…not in his bed. In fact he wasn't even in the room. Reese checked the bathroom, wasn't there either. A sneaky suspicion made him pull the covers off the bed Velvet had slept in. Nope, they weren't there as well. _Okay Brandon, where the hell are you?_ Reese walked over to his Scroll and opened it up to the messages.

 _Hey guys me and Velvet went into town for a while. I don't know when we'll back. See ya later~Brandon._

"Well that's great," Reese said to himself.

"What's great?" The voice of Travis spooked Reese and the Percussionist nearly dropped his Scroll. Reese turned to see the Euphonium player back to sketching on his many pieces of paper.

"Oh Travis. I didn't think you were up yet."

"Well, when you fall off the bed you tend to make a loud noise," Reese could feel the grin Travis plastered on his face from the smug comment.

"F**k you," Reese quickly shot back.

"Sorry, I don't swing that way," Travis playfully teased. Reese rolled his eyes and turned to get ready for whatever hell awaited him. "But seriously, where's Brandon?"

"Apparently he and Velvet went to Vale for some reason."

Travis broke his pencil on the paper and stopped drawing. The axe wielder spun in his chair and had a wide eyed look, as if he just saw a murder. "He did WHAT?!"

"Hey easy! Sam's still sleeping," Reese tried to calm him.

"You do realize who is on Velvet's team right?"

"Yeah," Reese said as if Travis was stupid, "what's your point?"

"My point is, Velvet is on a team with a woman who incredibly protective of her. This same woman who has warned me if I ever touched Velvet she would beat me to death with her bare hands. This same woman who carries a purse that was probably gifted to her by Satan himself, and said purse can transform into a f******g minigun. And let's not forget the jolly green giant, and the guy who who is way faster than all of us."

"I don't think Yatsu and Fox would go after us like that."

"Unless a certain she-devil comes out and stamps 'Property of Coco and Velvet' on their asses and convinces them to skewer us."

Reese just paused to give Travis a look. "You seriously need to get your imagination under control. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to get some lunch."

"You're going to lunch looking like you're going to fight?" Reese looked down at his Mandalorian Armor, "I get the fact this school is batshit crazy, but come on. It's a bit much."

"I'm going to the shooting range after lunch."

"Ahh, okay. Give me a few minutes and I'll join you."

"And what not finish your important doodling?" Reese mocked.

"For your information 'space-cadet', I'm drawing a second mech so when I am able to summon the Victor I can bring up some support."

"Whatever," Reese honestly had no clue why Travis had such a fascination with mechs, then again he was in Mandalorian Armor so he didn't have much room to talk, "I'll meet you down there."

A few minutes later Reese got down to the lunchroom and got a tray of food. For what it's worth, the food was better than the cafeteria food back home. The Mandalorian found Teams RWBY and JNPR eating down in the far corner. "Good morning," Reese said surprising the group of eight.

"Oh Reese!" Pyrrha said surprised, "We didn't recognize you."

It took a minute for Reese to realize but he still had his helmet on, maybe that's why he got some of those looks in the lunch line. After sitting down he removed the helmet which sat to his left right next to Ruby. "Better?" He asked before stabbing a forkful of his salad and placing it in his mouth. The issue was he placed the helmet next to Ruby Rose, the girl who was endlessly fascinated by the tech they used, the girl who denied but everyone knew that she had a weapon fetish.

"Hey Reese," the odd sound of Ruby's voice mixed with the scratchy radio. "Give me your cookies!" She jokingly threatened

Reese turned to see his helmet staring back at him and he nearly fell out of his seat. The head of his rust colored helmet and the body of Ruby was incredibly jarring for him.

"Ruby Rose!" Weiss snapped at her partner, "Could you not play with other people stuff?!"

"I'm sorry Weiss," Ruby's scratchy voice said behind the helmet, "but it's sooooo cool!"

"Thanks," Reese said before taking off the helmet, much to Ruby's displeasure, "I'll take that as a compliment."

"So, alien-boy," Yang teased, "where'd you come up with that stuff?"

"Extra-dimensional," Reese corrected, "and this stuff is called 'Mandalorian Armor'."

"Is it the armor your military uses?" Weiss asked.

Reese scoffed at that. "Nope, this stuff comes from a science fiction series loved back home."

"Huh?" The four members of Team RWBY collective said.

"Yeah, me and Travis are huge nerds. We love science fiction, comic books, video games, movies, and all sorts of nerd culture."

"That is so cool," Jaune breathed out, a bit of sparkle in his eyes.

"Exactly, who knows maybe one day we'll give you a crash course o-"

"REESE!" The whole lunchroom turned their heads to two pairs of doors. The two doors swung open after being shoulder checked by Travis who was in his armor, Sam followed him. The two propped themselves against the wall and soon Sam fried a shot from the Alto Cannon. Travis grabbed a chair and destroyed it with his axe to use it to keep the door closed. Once that had been done the two earthlings met up with their friend. "Reese we got to go!"

"Umm, why?" A good question.

"Because that one thing I told you about," Travis was seething through his teeth, "you know that 'one' thing."

"OH!" Reese said and took a pause, "Shit."

"'Oh shit? That's all you can say is 'Oh shit!? Coco thinks Brandon f****d Velvet and is out to kill all of us, and all you can say is 'Oh shit!?"

"Wait," the group of eight hunters was spoken for by Jaune, "what?"

"Long story Jaune, right now we got to get to Vale to either warn Brandon what kind of 'Purse-based Apocalypse' awaits him or find him and Velvet to maybe, just maybe grovel for forgiveness." That's when it all went to a lower circle of hell. The doors bursted open, well it was more like they were destroyed by a purse.

"Team BBRS!" The voice of an incredibly pissed Coco Adel roared. Travis made a squeaking noise out of fear that was unnatural if you asked the others.

"Sam! Break the window!" Travis yelled. Coco locked eyes with the three and walked towards them, murder in her eyes.

"Um Travis, are you sure that's a good idea?" Sam asked.

"Do you want to die first? Do you wish to be pummeled or be made into swiss cheese?"

"Good point," Sam nodded and aimed his arm mounted cannon at the window behind Team RWBY. With a large concussive blast the glass was blown out of that window and the windows inside the roo. Everyone except Reese, Travis, Sam, and…the devil woman stopped what they were doing to duck and cover. In the confusion the three earthlings jumped out of the window and made break for it.

Coco was not pleased. "Get back here!" She roared, running after them, "I will kill you for ruining Velvet's innocence!"

Once Coco had left everyone stayed silent for a few minutes before whispers came, then everyone merely let it go. But one question remained, and Blake voiced it. "What did Brandon do again?"

 **-Back with the pilot-**

"Okay," he threw his head back, "now I get it."

"Yeah," Reese said, "so now we got to find Brandon and Velvet before we get killed."

"Do you know where he is?"

"All we know is he's in Vale, not much more than that."

"And he isn't picking up," Travias interjected putting away his scroll after a failed call to their leader.

"Great," Sam said, "just great. Have you tried calling Velvet?"

"Same result, it's almost as if they don't want to be bothered, as if they're on a…"

Travis, Reese, and Sam all looked at each other.

"...a date."

Reese, then, voiced what they all thought..

"Well…f**k ."

 **I didn't initially intend for this to be a two parter, especially since I just did a two parter, but this one just kept going and going. My apologies for springing that on you, but do know that not all of these 'filler' chapters will be two parters. Anyways, see ya later suckers.**


	11. Chapter 11: Coco's Wrath Pt 2

**Author's Note: **I have had to Reuplod this chapter due to technical reasons, my apologies for any confusion** Wassup bitches? Welcome to part two of 'Coco's Wrath'. Head's up, this chapter might have a bit of OOC-ness. I kind of had to do that in the first place with Coco. Mainly because we really don't know much about Team CFVY besides them being badasses (nice job Rooster Teeth.**

Chapter 11: Coco's Wrath Pt 2

"Well…f**k," Reese spoke for all when he said that. After which he facepalmed while Sam had to sit down, and Travis massaged his temples.

It had been one hell of a day for the three members of Team BBRS. Their leader, Brandon, was apparently on a date with a nice girl, no doubt about it, but the team leader of that team appeared to be the devil in disguise. Seriously, they all swore they saw Coco's eyes turn blood red when she entered in the cafeteria. All they wanted to do was relax after the stressful day they'd had. Go down to the shooting range, kick some training room ass, and sneak into the teacher's lounge to replace the coffee grounds with powder laxative. You know the normal earthling stuff.

But no! Brandon had to go think with his 'junk' and go on a date with the one girl you dared not to hurt. Velvet, Velvet Scarlatina, the woman who had 'Property of Coco' tattooed, not stamped but tattooed, on her ass. Even if it was harmless, and nothing was going to come of it, Travis had a certain and undeniable fear of Coco. It was almost as bad as Reese's illogical fear of being chased by multiple women.

Though, when you looked at all the relationships they had with Coco Adel, Sam seemed to have many parallels with her. They were both charismatic, humorous, and they both packed a punch with an unsuspecting weapon. And now here they were. _A predator and prey, then the two were going to engage into some kind of carnal em-NO BAD SAM STOP THINKING LIKE THAT! BAD THOUGHTS! BAD THOUGHTS!_ Sam shook his head at that the very thought of…whatever that was. He honestly tried not thinking about getting with one of the girls at Beacon, it would only create rumors. Travis already had enough rumors about him and Yang being a thing. Personally speaking, Sam, didn't want any of those same rumors, mainly out of respect for the girls which he had plenty of. You see when they first arrived here, the group proposed to not be romantically involved with anyone on Remnant in the event they actually returned home. If they were to go back, they couldn't take their significant other with them and they couldn't stay here and not go back to their friends, family, and past lives. As much as they all wished they would try not to get involved with the ladies of Remnant. Welp, Brandon shot that out pretty quick. One nice chat, a night to themselves, and off Brandon goes to a date with one of the girls. Honestly speaking, Sam couldn't blame him, but on the other hand why couldn't he have chosen someone else? Why couldn't he choose someone like Yang, or hell even Coco? But no he had to choose Velvet.

"I swear to god," Travis mumbled, feeling the Bullhead descend onto the ground, "when we find Brandon I'm going to kill him."

"You already said that Travis," Reese told him, mid sentence his voice shifted as he put his helmet on.

"So long as Coco doesn't get him first," Sam said making adjustments on the Alto Cannon before the barrel was illuminated a light blue.

"Don't remind me," Travis said getting near the door. The Bullhead landed, a jerk as the landing gear plummeted softly on the ground. The door slowly opened revealing the midday sun and air. _Okay let's do this._ "Alrighty then," Travis clapped his hands together, "let's go find us our glorious and incredibly horny team leader!"

"Oh for f****s sake," Reese sighed.

"Reese you killed the f*****g mood man," Travis said walking out.

"Really I killed it? I? Me? Jeffrey 'Reese' Martins, killed the mood when you just called our team leader 'horny'? You did that yourself man."

"Can we please go?" Sam asked, "We're blocking the path to the people behind us."

The other two looked back to see a bunch of pissed off people behind them. "Oh, shit," Reese crackled through his radio, "we should probably leave."

"Agreed."

The cafeteria of Beacon Academy was still reeling from earlier events. You know, where Coco Adel chased three members of Team BBRS out of a window claiming they 'ruined Velvet's innocence'. Honestly speaking she had done this sort of thing before, but never with this amount of bloodthirst. Usually people tried to step up to her leading to a one way ticket to the infirmary, it was either broken bones or a bullet or two. The window was still broken after Sam blasted it as an escape route, in fact all windows in the room were busted from the shockwave. A nifty little draft was blowing through the room, practically asking for people to leave, maybe the room wished to mourn for its windows.

Just as confused as anybody, Teams RWBY and JNPR walked back to their rooms about to hit the training floor. The Vytal Festival was rapidly approaching, and now amount of Team BBRS shenanigans was going to stop that. Weiss made sure of that. She didn't hate the earthlings, but they had a tendency to act like Ruby. Impulsive and rather childish at times. Ok, maybe scratch that, we'll say they're like Yang and Ruby, with a little bit of Ren and Nora mixed in. Reese was known for being stoic outside of his little outbursts here and there when talking to Travis or any of the others, Sam was the talkative one who was always the nicest out of the group. Brandon proved to be the leader type many assumed he was, he could be cold or warm to the people around you, and probably the strongest physically speaking. Travis was the wisecrack, the smart one, and the strongest mentally. He chose not to go outright guns blazing, but used a bit of wit to overpower his opponent, if that didn't work then XYZ would see to his victory. In terms of who was actually strongest on the team, it was still up to debate. Students who kept track of that, mainly Pyrrha and Weiss, say that it's a tie between Travis and Brandon, Reese was third, and Sam was probably the weakest. That's not saying Sam was like Jaune, no one was like Jaune in terms of combat, but he was more like Ren. Competent, but works better with his team rather than on his lonesome. Sure, Blake had said he was able to subdue a bunch of White Fang on the docks that night, but it was the White Fang we're talking about. That monkey tailed rapscallion could take care of the White Fang, it wasn't something to brag about. All in all, the enigmatic Team BBRS had proven themselves to be formidable opponents, they ranked below Team RWBY in terms of strength but way above the likes of CRDL. Travis and Brandon could probably dispose of the CRDL in a two v. four scenario.

There was one fact they all still had a hard time believing, even if they insisted on it. The fact that they were from another world. A world without the Grimm, with no Dust, a world without kingdoms, no huntsman and huntresses. Just a world of civilians. Did they all get along? Was there ever any conflict? How did they power things back on 'Earth'? They didn't mention that. Oh, and they all wanted to know. While Team RWBY was getting ready, not a single word was being spoken, they knew though. They all knew what they wanted to do. Yang had the biggest grin on her face, and the heiress saw that.

"Yang, no," Weiss told her blonde teammate.

"And why not?" She asked, her grin growing.

"Because they asked us not to pry into their personal lives," Weiss argued, "and barging into their room when their gone is prying."

"Yang," the blonde's younger sister said, "they already told us their big secret. The least we could do is not try to pry into more of their lives."

"But the most we could do is find out more about them," Yang smiled, somehow by the grace of god her smile got wider, "maybe we could find some blackmail on them."

"Yeah like what?" Blake asked.

"You heard what Travis was saying about Brandon and Velvet, maybe they were doing a 'biology experiment'," Yang teased.

"Yeah what did Travis say?" Ruby asked curiously, and Yang saw the mistake she just made, "That Brandon fu-"

"No! Bad Ruby!" Yang immediately put her hand in front of Ruby's mouth, "Don't say things like that!"

"Why not?" She asked as she broke from her sister's grasp, "They all do it."

"They come from a different world," Blake said, "they probably have a different culture."

"A more vulgar culture," Yang added, rather unhappy with what they've influencing upon Ruby.

"Still," Blake said, "I would like to know more about their home."

"Yeah, I think it would help us understand and connect with them," Weiss said in probably the most pretentious and boring way possible.

"Well, perhaps I can help you with that," a voice said from there doorway. The four girls of Team RWBY jumped up and turned to see their headmaster, Ozpin, standing in the doorway. "Hello girls."

"Oh headmaster!" Ruby said, still a little surprised and a tad in fear, "How much have you heard?"

"Oh I've heard most of your conversation," the four lowered their head. They were to keep Team BBRS' origin a secret to all, even the headmaster. The mysterious headmaster saw that and sought to relieve them of their fears, "You have nothing to be concerned of, I am quite aware of Team BBRS and their origins."

"You are?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, you didn't think I would let students in my school without knowing about them. I am a huntsman after all, and I am required to look out for everyone in my school."

"What do you mean you can help?" Blake asked.

"Come with me," Ozpin said cryptically before walking off. The girls shrugged and walked with their headmaster.

The walk with Ozpin was quiet, no one dared to make a sound. The group of five entered into an empty classroom where Miss Goodwitch, Professor Port, Profes-(Sorry) _Doctor_ Oobleck, and Team JNPR were all seated looking at a blank projector screen. The were all seated in desks, and Oobleck even had a notebook and pencil.

"Why good day ladies," Port greeted.

"Hello girls," Oobleck waved.

"Um hi?" Ruby waved back to her two teachers, "What are we doing here?"

Ozpin walked to the front of the room and stood with his cane and cup in hand. "Well since we have all been made aware of Team BBRS' origins and their Home, I figured it would be beneficial to understand more about their home."

"Wait," Jaune said from a desk, "you know?"

"Yes Mr. Arc," Ozpin stated, "me a Miss Goodwitch were some of the first to know."

"So when did Professor Port and Professor Oobleck find out?" Yang asked as the girls took seats next to Team JNPR.

"Doctor," Oobleck corrected flatly readjusting his glasses, "but me and my associate were made aware about two days ago."

"And what a story that was," Port exasperated, "poor Barty over here nearly shook Mr. Basco senseless asking for more and more information."

"It was merely to understand much of their mysterious dimension," Oobleck offered, but not at all offended by Port's comment.

"Which is why I have brought you all here," Ozpin brought the group back to the conversation, "Team BBRS was kind enough to record some, what they called, 'vlogs'. Think of them as journal entries or articles. But they each talks about differing subjects of their world. How small some differences are, and some that contrast greatly. I don't know what is on these recordings myself, so I will be watching with you." Ozpin then sat down next to the other teachers at a desk.

"Ozpin," Glynda said, "are you sure?"

"I'm just as much a student as all of you are," Ozpin replied as the video was beginning to play.

Oobleck adjusted his glasses and clicked a pen, and the rest all leaned in as the video started. The screen changed to the Team BBRS dorm room with Brandon, Travis, Reese, and Sam all sitting in row where you could all see them in front of the desk Travis usually frequented.

"Hello," the recording of Travis said first, "my name is Travis Basco."

"I'm Brandon Rainwater," the Trombone player said.

"I'm Reese," he said flatly, they saw Travis look to Reese and nudge. Reese gave a half scowl back to Travis before coming back to the cameras, "Reese Martins.

"And I'm Sam Perish," the youngest of the group said exuberantly, the students laughed slightly at that."

"And on Remnant we are known on Team BBRS, but back Home we are just regular people," Travis explained, "if you're seeing this then you probably stole it, or the more likelier scenario you have been made aware of where our Home is. Our Home, lies within another dimension, a planet called Earth."

"Earth is very similar to Remnant in terms of its geography," Brandon took over, "Forests, snow capped mountains, scorching deserts, resort beaches, bustling cities, small towns, and vast oceans." It was at this point that an image of Earth popped up to the side of Brandon, it covered Reese and Sam in the process along with a portion of Travis' as well. The group all stared at, and all went wide eyed, including Ozpin. The sphere was so…blue, multiple clouds and land masses sprawled all over the picture. It was way too detailed to be a drawing like most maps on Remnant were, it practically looked real. "This is Earth, our Home. Unlike Remnant we do not have Dust, or the Grimm, which is probably why we have scoured every inch of our globe and have colonized the hospitable places, which is nearly everywhere. Our planet has a total of seven billion people living in it. We don't have kingdoms per se, but we have countries. Think of them as kingdoms but much more democratic in nature. When we think of 'kingdoms' back home we think of monarchies and tyranny, our apologies if we offend you, but that's just one difference in our cultures."

The picture of Earth shifted to the left and showed Reese and Sam while Travis and Brandon were covered. "Earth is comprised completely of humans," Reese said in his low monotone voice, "we do not have, nor did we ever have, the faunus."

Blake nearly stood up when Reese said that, and almost walked out. _None? No faunus at all?_ She was devastated. She sat back down, trying not to make a scene, her disappointment knew no bounds at that point.

"While we do not have the faunus on our planet, we have made up for it with our vast range of cultures. With nearly two hundred individual countries all ranging in their own histories, traditions, religions, and people it more than makes up for the lack of a separate species."

"Earth itself is divided into seven different continents," Sam said, the globe flattened out and covered all their faces. "Their is Europe," a chunk of the map was highlighted showing the borders of the continent in the middle of the map, "Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Australia/Oceania. We, as in Team BBRS, live in North America." The map then zoomed in on the continent in question and highlighted a certain section of the continent, "The country, or kingdom from your perspective, that we live in is called The United States of America. We live in the northwestern most state on the mainland, Washington State."

The map vanished and went back to the four earthlings sitting, and looking back at the audience. "We hope you found this video informative," Travis said, "there will be many more going into greater detail about our science, history, culture, politics, and many more topics in our videos. Until next time." The video ended right after with the screen going black.

Ozpin stood up, "Would you like to continue?"

"Yes!" All people in the word said at once.

"Good, then let's continue," Ozpin started the next video.

 _I can't help but wonder how the guys are doing,_ Ruby thought remembering the predicament they got themselves in. Her head snapped up at the sound of Travis' voice. "Hello there, I'm Travis Basco, and today we'll be talking about science and the differences we have back on Earth. To start we'll be going with the basics of physics and how…"

"Son of a bitch Reese hurry up! I think I saw her coming around the corner!" Travis yelled as the three ran through an alley.

The Mandalorian came into the alley just in time to avoid a few shots landing right behind him damaging the wall. "Jesus H. Christ! Travis! We can't keep running forever! We got to find Brandon!"

"I know that, but whenever we start that wench keeps on popping up! What the f**k do you want me to do?! There's a reason why Brandon's the leader of our little 'posse'!"

Sam then shocked the two of them by putting himself between them and both gave a grimacing stare. "Reese, I want you to fly above and get to the rooftops, she can't get you there. Travis, try searching the downtown area, if they're not there get yourself back to Beacon and get the girls and JNPR. You guys got that?"

Travis and Reese both exchanged looks of confusion. "Since when did we get all brave?" Travis asked, a bit impressed.

"When my two teammates are arguing like bitches while we're being chased by a giant bitch!"

"Geez, someone's uptight," Reese said, his helmeted head moving with his sigh.

"Just go."

"What about you?" Travis asked.

"Aw Travis are you worried about me?" Sam asked, pretending to be thankful.

"No, I'm just afraid of your cousin if we come home and you're in an urn, I swear to god that woman scares me."

"Me too man…me too."

"But seriously, what are going to do?"

"I'm going to fight her."

"..."

"..."

"What?"

"Sam," Travis put a hand to his shoulder, "do we need to find a pharmacist and get a prescription for xanax?"

"No, Travis, I am not suicidal," Sam replied, "I'm serious."

"Sam, I'm scared of Kendra, what more humiliating blackmail do you need? Don't throw away your life, it might cost me mine."

"Travis, I'll be fine. Trust me.'

"That does not inspire confidence."

"Go," Sam was rather stern when he said that.

"Fine, call us when you need help," Reese fired up his jetpack and lifted himself to the top of the building.

Looking back down, Sam locked eyes with Travis. "You know usually the saying is 'call me "if" you need help'."

"Team BBRS!" The angry roar of some kind of demon possessed animal echoed through the street.

Travis looked from the street and back to his Saxophonist friend. "Yeah but in this scenario, you'll need help when the time comes." Travis was about to run off into the street on the other side of the alley. "You sure you're going to okay?"

Another roar came off, "Yeah sure, you know what they say: 'only the good die young'."

"That is not true on any level."

"F**k you Travis."

"Sorry, not a homosexual, and something tells me you aren't either," Travis was smiling like Yang does when she notices some romance was on the horizon.

"What?" Sam asked a bit pissed off.

"Oh, nothing, just noticing how you want to be alone with Coco," Travis took his leave not giving Sam a chance to respond.

Not that he didn't try.

"Well you know what?! F**K you. It was a stupid rule anyway, we should've just let Brandon and Velvet do the nasty and we just find a hotel or crash in JNPR's room! God knows I want to hear their love making in RWBY's dorm!"

"What was that?" A dark, demonic, hoarse said. Even though it gave a question, it sounded like it knew the answer, and it was not happy. Sam turned to see Coco, a demonic Coco but a Coco nonetheless.

"Coco!" Sam greeted, as if his whole body wasn't trembling with fear, "What are you doing here?"

"Where is she?" She said, her glasses lowered revealing the anger in her eyes.

"Where is who?" Sam playfully asked.

"Sam…" Coco growled taking a step forward.

"Coco," Sam tried to calm her down, he took a step back, "nothing happened last night, you're overreacting."

"Oh, I'm overreacting!" Coco mocked, "Well what do you call it when you see your teammate in the arms of a man dressed in almost nothing?!"

"Well I'd call it the day after Saint Patrick's Day, but what do I know?"

"Samuel!" Coco's purse shifted into the gatling gun, despite being filled with fear, Sam remained calm for some reason.

"Coco," he tried again, "Brandon is a man of faith, and back Home his religion stated that he was not to have sex until he married. He would never do something like that."

"I'm not worried about what Brandon would do, but I will make him pay. It's what you guys would do that makes me sick."

"Oh y- you think- we-THE F**K COCO!"

"Sam! Don't swear! It's a bad habit!"

"No, smoking is a bad habit! Drinking is a bad habit! Trying to balance a beach ball over a pit of crocodiles while on a tightrope is a bad habit! Swearing is not a bad habit! You think that me, Travis, and Reese would do something like 'that'? 'That'?! To Velvet?! When Bandon is right there in front of us?! You are just as dirty minded as so many back Home! And you know what?!" Sam began to charge the Alto Cannon and pulled up his other hand. In one motion he did the most unforgivable thing in Remnant, he flipped Coco off. He gave her the bird, the middle finger, the one finger salute. "F**k you, f**k him, f**k all this, f**k them especially, f**k her, f**k me, and f**k all of this I'm done!"

"Oh you are in so much trouble!"

"What are you going to do? Spank me?" Sam was getting an itchy trigger, much like Coco.

"Oh, so much worse!" Coco pulled the trigger, as did Sam.

The air was filled with the sound of bullets and the Alto Cannon.

"So, by now you have noticed that we tend to swear, like a lot, an ungodly amount of swearing," a recording of Samuel Perish said, "we learn to swear from usually our parents or our classmates in school. Which is a perfect segway to our education system." The eight student hunters had to admit, this wasn't too boring. The recordings Team BBRS made kept things moving, they didn't go into any long pauses, they put in a few jokes, and they even kept the swearing to minimum. Except when Travis was talking, he let one slip every now and then.

"We are legally required to attend school starting at around age five," Sam said. This surprised them all quite considerably. Due to how the world of Remnant was structured school for some kids like Weiss could be required by her parents, but for someone in the case of Ren or Nora school was not as mandatory until Combat School. "We start at Elementary School where we go till the age of eleven, we then go to Middle School from ages twelve to fourteen and trust me when I say this those years suck, and finally we end at high school which goes from fifteen to eighteen. After we graduate we are left at a crossroad. Do we go straight into the workforce, go to the military, or the more common option college. College is a lot like how Remnant does it and it shares similarities to the Huntsman Academies. We go to college to major in a particular subject. For example Travis was planning on going into Electrical Engineering, and Brandon was planning on being a professional Trombone player."

"You go to school for that?" Weiss shot out, the video paused and everybody looked to the heiress. The seven students were somewhat annoyed with her sudden outburst, "I'm just saying, why go to school for something that is considered a 'hobby'?" Ozpin started the video back up.

"We choose the lifestyles and interests we do for the sole purpose of wishing to be happy in life," Weiss immediately sunk in her chair as Sam went on, "Our life, our country was based on the ideas of the foundations of Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness."

 _A noble cause,_ Ozpin thought.

"Many go to college to find out who we are in life, it's what Travis tells me. We are so often kept too close to our parents and are stuck in the same place for many of us we never get to stretch out our wings to see what we truly are. College, or whatever we do in the future, let's us do that. This has been Samuel Perish, signing off."

The streets of Vale were-wait hold a second. Who gives a shit on what's happening on the ground when a man in space armor is rocketing around from rooftop to rooftop? Using the scanning function Reese's helmet had installed in it, _thank you programming class,_ he combed through the people as he jumped from building to building. And damn this was proving to be difficult. How hard was it to find a rabbit faunus and a six foot two hunter-in-training.

"Maybe I'm going about this wrong," Reese said to himself, "where do you go during a date?" It was an honest question as Reese hadn't been on a date in years. And even then he just went to a dinner and- "There we go!" He yelled, his jetpack igniting to life before ju. He would go to every restaurant and find Brandon there. Was it the smartest idea to barge into the establishment that served food to go find them? Probably not, but Brandon got them into this mess. He was going to pay.

For some reason, Brandon got a sudden chill that ran up his spine. It made him stop for a moment and Velvet noticed. "Is everything alright?" She asked.

Brandon looked to Velvet. She was wearing a white colored dress with an orange floral pattern blazoned across it that went a little past her knees. He felt a little underdressed just with one of his plaid button up shirts and a pair of his jeans. But had he gone more formal, Velvet might've suspected this wasn't what Brandon had initially said.

Brandon smiled at the sound of Velvet's voice, it was soothing to him, "No, I'm fine, just thinking of the guys." _Oh smoothe Brandon,_ he cursed himself, _you're on a 'date' with a pretty girl and you talk about your guy friends. No wonder you were single back Home._ "I mean-"

"I think it's great you always have your friends in the back of your mind. It's a testament to how great a leader you are."

"You really think I'm a great leader?" He had a small smile on his face.

"Yeah," Brandon practically melted at that, "you're kind, strong, decisive, caring. I bet the others could tell you if they just get here already. What time did you say they were coming by anyway?"

 _Oh crap,_ Brandon thought, "Well you see, Travis texted me back that they-uh-couldn't make it." (probably the most spot on words there 'Brandino')

"What do you mean?" Velvet pressed a bit closer to him.

Brandon was flustered at this point, "Um well that's a good question, the answer to that- maybe I should go reply to him and ask- do you want to continue walking I think I saw a wonderful shop over ther-"

"Brandon," Velvet stopped him with one word, albeit it was his name. That usually shut anybody up, "what's going on?"

Brandon gave a defeated sigh. "Okay," Brandon took a breath and then exhaled, "I lied a bit. This was supposed to be a date." Brandon said those last three words slower and disjointed from the rest. Velvet's eyes widened and a blush reddened her face. "I've wanted to ask you out for a long time, and I didn't know how to. It didn't hit me till last night when I was walking back, and then I saw Cardin about to-" Brandon was stopped when Velvet plant a kiss on his cheek.

When she pulled back Brandon smiled but got immediately slapped on the other cheek. "You big dummy," she put her hands on her hips, "what'd you do that for?"

"I was scared," Brandon admitted, "I was scared that if I asked you out and you said no, I don't think I could show my face around you. We earthlings tend to be very fragile about these matters."

Velvet lightly punched his shoulder, "You big oaf, of course I would have said 'yes'."

"You would?"

"Yeah, the same qualities that make you a great leader are the same reason I like you as a person."

"Well that's nice to know," Brandon motioned his arm to the street, "do you wish to continue?"

"Naturally," Velvet happily chirped, "my first date," Velvet marveled at the thought. "What would…" Velvet's eyes widened in horror as she realized one nagging detail, "Coco!"

"Something wrong?" (Oh, Brandon you are such an idiot.)

"You told Coco about taking me on a date?! Right?!"

"I'm sorry, you're a grown woman. I didn't think Coco would have to have the final say."

"It isn't that! Coco has looked out for my well being since day one at Beacon. She doesn't let any guy even think about touching me, let alone take me on a surprise date."

"I think you're overreacting," Brandon reached to pick up his scroll, "let me call Travis, I'm sure they're training with each other right now." (Could mercilessly slaughtering be considered 'training') Brandon waited a few seconds while the call went to Travis "Hey Travis how are we doi-"

" _Brandon where the F**K are you?!"~_ (The signifies that this is a call and not Travis being right next to him) Travis howled on the other side, loud enough for all to hear. A mother and her younger child quickly moved past him hearing the foul language.

"Travis, calm down, what's going on?"

"' _What's going on?' 'What's GOING ON!?' I'LL TELL YOU THE F**K WHAT'S GOING ON! Coco thinks you f*****d her little rabbit friend and is chasing us down like stray animals. You need to tell me where you are right now so we can calm her down and show her Velvet still has her innocence. Unless you already f*****d her, then we're already good as dead!"~_ Velvet blushed wildly, as did Brandon, at Travis' comment.

"Travis I-ugh no I did not have sex with Velvet, you know I would never do that until I would get married," again Velvet blushed at the word 'marriage'.

" _I know that, you know that, but does the she-devil with the purse that weighs a metric-f***ton know that?! Where are you? Please tell me."~_

Brandon looked around for street signs. This was still his second time being in Vale and he hadn't gotten used to the street signs just yet. He was about to answer until Velvet took the Scroll. "Travis, we're at the corner of 85th and Luna Avenue."

" _Thanks Velvet,"~_ Travis recognized the voice of the Brandon's date, " _I'll see you there after I tell Reese. Be safe, and protect Brandon. God knows what that she-devil will do to him."~_

"Good luck Travis," Velvet hung up and returned the Scroll to Brandon. He looked disappointed.

"Are you angry?" He asked.

"No you big oaf, you didn't know. Can't be angry at that, even if Travis appears to be."

"Ahh Travis just tends to be an angry person, I swear sometimes he's worse than Yang when it comes to his temper."

"Then maybe they're a perfect match like many think they are," Velvet giggled at Travis' expense. Somewhere Travis felt a shiver run up his spine.

"No, just no."

"Why not? Don't think they'd make a cute couple?"

"No, I don't think the school could handle the two most angry individuals in the entirety of two different worlds ending up together. I mean what if they reproduce, they might give birth to literally Satan." The thought of Travis reproducing sent shivers and bad thoughts into their minds, Travis sneezed somewhere in the town of Vale.

 _Goddammit, what's with the allergies,_ Travis thought to himself.

"...and that's why no one likes the Prequels," Reese explained. The group didn't know how Reese got on a tangent about a set of prequels from some series beloved back home. What'd he call it? Star Wars? Eh, the natives of Remnant didn't particularly care (but Reese will make them care).

"Anyways," Travis said as Reese was still seething a bit, "our culture back home uses every bit of media, art, and form of entertainment for inspiration in our everyday lives. For example, there is a series of movies called 'Back to the Future' which showcases hoverboards. While we do not have these available to the mass populace prototypes of this technology."

"Another example of this inspiration is in the armor that I wear," Reese explained. Next to his face came a picture of a man wearing similar looking armor in the desert, trying to get away from some kind of tentacles beast, "the armor I wear is called Mandalorian Armor, it too, comes from the Star Wars Universe. The character I based it off was called Boba Fett, the most badass of all characters."

"And yet he had less than fifteen lines, and one of them was a 'wilhelm'," Travis said quietly, then Reese smacked him upside the head, "ow."

"We hope you found this video informative, and are interested in our entertainment culture. Until then, this is Reese and Travis, signing off."

Sam felt his whole body hit the side of a building after Coco slammed her purse into him. She had gotten a flank when Sam thought he had got away. People ran in fear of what was going on. Was it the White Fang? Grimm attack? No, it was some crazy ass bitch with a minigun purse trying to maim, or kill, some other assholes. With a groan he pulled himself out of the rubble and dusted off. Sam looked to the Alto Cannon and checked the charge, _it's gonna need a few more seconds_. Clicking a button the two blades, now known as Soprano and Bari, jutted out ready to be used. He flipped them in his hands effortlessly. Sam was nervous to say the least when he saw the form of Coco remove itself from the smoke. A large scowl over her face, her purse in hand but not yet in its dreaded minigun form. Sam still needed to stall, in hoped the others could find Brandon and Velvet.

"Coco! So good to see you again, I have this major headache, do you think you got any aspirin?"

"Shut up Perish," was all she growled, Coco kept walking closer.

Sam gulped silently, "Coco, please, let us explain."

"No."

"Come on, not even a snappy comeback. Just 'no'?"

"Yeah, just 'no'."

"Fine then," Sam narrowed his brow and tightened the grip on his blades.

Sam got a running start and lunged at Coco, leaping the air to do so. Soprano collided with Coco's purse and Sam used his leverage to stay elevated in midair. When his momentum finally gave out Sam fell to the ground and immediately ducked under a wide horizontal swing. Trying to make every second count Sam shot up and brought his fist to Coco's chin landing a successful uppercut. Not willing to give up Coco used the weight of her purse to accelerate an oncoming swing spinning her into a full circle. The purse came too fast for Sam to react and the earthling was blown back as his Aura took the hit. His shoulder felt a bit sore for the beating he had been receiving from that, and everything else he had been doing today. Not to mention the fight on the docks that he partook in just the night before. Sam brought back his resolve and placed Soprano, and just Soprano, into the barrel of the Alto Cannon leaving him with an open palm. With Coco coming towards him he stopped an overhead swing, the two deadlocked as Coco tried to crush Sam.

"So this is how it's going to be?" Sam grunted as he struggled to keep the blow at bay, "Our friend helps your friend and you immediately think we take advantage of her? Gee, you must really trust your friends. I would say I would 'hate to see your enemies', but it appears I am one so that point becomes moot."

Either Coco didn't hear it in her rage fueled assault, or she didn't care, she just kept up the pressure and eased off slightly before swinging it back down. Sam rolled out of the way, and just in time too, the ground where he just stood fractured and splintered from the blow. _Oh f**k me that was close._ Flipping Bari in his hand once, he held it by the tip of the blade. _Let's see if those online tutorials weren't just talking shit._ Raising his arm just so his dagger was at his ear, Sam chucked his blade at Coco. It spun in perfect rotations, and since Coco had done a full on sprint towards the Saxophonist, she didn't have enough time to evade. The blade struck her in the face, causing her to stop and hold her head in pain. _Aw F**K YEAH! That was sweet._ Something had changed though, and Sam didn't know what kind of trouble he had gotten himself into Sam heard a growl, something primal and nerve racking. Sam looked to see a sunglasses-less Coco Adel. To the ground were her sweet shades, they laid broken and cracked on the ground, Bari the blade was lodged in a wall after it bounced off Coco's face. Sam looked into Coco's eyes, those once caring, kind, snarky, hilarious, beautiful… _No BAD SAM! SHE'S TRYING TO KILL YOU!_ Sam couldn't help but admit a certain beauty there was to Coco, he also couldn't admit there was a certain fear induced by the rage in her eyes. Sam gulped, this time audible, he was truly afraid now.

"What's wrong Sam?" Coco asked, she started to sound a lot more like Travis in her tone, "Scared?"

"Yeah," he replied quickly, "very scared."

Coco's purse shifted into the minigun and she smiled as if the devil was currently controlling her. "Good, because you should be."

Sam made a break for it, a trail of bullets nipping at his heels. Grabbing his blade that went astray he ducked behind a wooden shelf and some rubble from the building. He placed his blade back in the cannon and took a deep breath. Getting up behind the rubble Sam aimed the Alto Cannon right at Coco. With a closed right eye he fired the deadly weapon, the sound of a strumming guitar filled the air. Coco ducked beneath the blast and kept her assault, Sam was forced back down. _Well, this just sucks, I need a way out of here._ Sam looked back to the wall behind him. _Well, when in Rome._ Sam took aim once again to the wall that was behind him and fired. The blue particle beam energy smashed into the wall shattering it into little pieces. Then standing up to face Coco he aimed it back at her. While firing he jumped slightly in the air so the blast could propel backwards into the street. Sam flew back…into another wall, maybe Travis should fix the knockback again. After Sam collected himself he saw that Coco was already standing across the street. She aimed the mingun at him. This time though Sam didn't feel fear or dread, there was no pit in his stomach and nothing to make his knees wobble. Sam got an odd feeling in his whole body. He knew his Aura was still there, he didn't get beat that badly, but something just felt weird. He heard a slight shimmering in his right ear. It sounded like when you fill multiple glasses with water and run your finger around the edge. It actually made Sam wince at the sound just due to the pitch, it sounded a little sharp.

"Oh what the heck is that?!" An angry Coco demanded.

"What is what?" Sam said raising his right hand slightly in the air. Out of the corner of his eye Sam saw something odd, a second hand that was not there earlier. Sam turned his head to see an exact copy of himself. A copy, a clone, a replica, and good god was he freaking out. "Oh what the f**k!" He jumped back at the sight of seeing a second him. But when he did jump back, the copy did the same. Curious , and seeing as how Coco was perplexed as much as he was, he decided to experiment. He raised his right foot, it followed immediately, he aimed the Alto Cannon at it, it complied with an exact replica of his deadly weapon. He opened up his mouth and it did as well. "Well?" The two asked simultaneously, an odd echo effect was heard. This made Sam more curious, it didn't appear to be intelligent, or else it might've run off by now, so Sam put out his hand to touch the other hand coming towards him. To his surprise he hand passed through the clone. He waved it about and the whole body even. The hand phased through it, not colliding with it at all. The copy's hand did the same thing. So it wasn't a solid clone, like Blake's which can take a hit, it was more like a… "A mirror," Sam whispered to himself, then it finally hit him, "I got my Semblance bitches!" Sam ducked as a volley of bullets immediately after he said that.

"Well good for you!" Coco roared.

 _Was that a compliment or is she being facetious?_ Sam thought. He got a thought, he moved his Atlo Cannon armed appendage and the mirror followed suit. _Oh, this is going to be so much fun._ Sam stood up, with more courage than an army of spartans. He raised his arm and angled it to Coco, and the mirror entity followed it. Coco got what Sam was trying to do and tried to dodge out of the way, her minigun folding back into a purse. Sam fired a blast from the Alto Cannon, and the mirror did the same. Apparently it copied everything Sam on his person as two blue energy bolts fired out of the two cannons. The ground where Coco was standing erupted in shrapnel and bits of concrete. Sam composed himself just in time for Coco to fly threw the dust and smash her purse into Sam. _Jesus Christ! How much do can she take?!_ Sam looked back at his double and got a cool idea. He started to run, the two blades of the cannon came back into his hands. The double followed his movements and Sam unleashed a flurry of blows. A total of four daggers were trying to get at Coco, the sudden barrage proved more than the veteran student could handle. Multiple blows struck when Sam deflected a stray attempt from the purse. Sam finished the barrage by jumping up and jabbing his foot into the side of her cheek. Since the mirror was there as well both sides of Coco's face got a taste of Sam's right and left foot. The force of being sent both ways forced her to stay straight long enough for Sam to do a move he learned from Fox in their training session. Putting both fists back for a mere second he jabbed both his fists into Coco's stomach, the mirror followed. However sam put his own spin on it. When he prepared the punch, Bari and Soprano were put back into their confines, and he charged the Alto Cannon. To put a neat little bow on this fight Sam fired a point blank shot from his energy weapon, as did the mirror. Coco was sent flying into the building, and then the next. Sam wanted to see if she was alright, but if he did he might die.

"Sorry Coco," Sam said, his mirrored double converging back into his body. It freaked him out a bit, but then again all of their Semblances did to a degree. "Wait till Travis hears about this," Sam said as he ran down the street.

"Okay, thanks Travis, I'll let you know I get there," Reese said, the radio in his helmet acted like a bluetooth for his scroll.

" _Yeah, I'll see you there too man, be safe."~_

"Hey," Reese said before cutting the call, "have you heard from Sam?"

" _No, but I have heard the Alto Cannon being fired shortly after we separated."~_

"That's not good."

" _Yeah, all the more reason to find Brandon and get this shit over with."~_

"See ya later."

" _Bye."~_

 _Okay,_ Reese thought after Travis had given him the address where Brandon and Velvet were. Reese's helmet created a pathway that would take less time (I swear to god it's like an Ironman helmet, I did not mean to give him this much stuff). Wishing not to walk he fired his jetpack up, a warning flashed across his eyes.

'WARNING: FUEL RESERVES BELOW 15%'

 _Well crap, looks like I'm hoofing it,_ Reese used a gutter that shot down to the ground to slide down. The rust colored Mandalorian gave everyone quite the fright. "What?" He asked the crowd of people, "Official huntsman business." That got most of the people to shrug and walk away, made sense. Reese then sprinted through the streets, a yellow line leading him to his destination (it was like a video game to him). _Three more blocks and I should. Ah-ha!_ Reese could make out the figures of Velvet and Brandon, mainly Velvet because she had rabbit ears. He brought up his contacts and called Travis. "Travis, I can see them. They look okay," Reese awaited a response but got none, all he got was silence, "Travis?…" Still nothing, "Travis are you okay?"

"YEAAAAAGH!" Reese heard something screeching into his speakers, it was even worse since it was all around him. Reese didn't need to ask what happened as Travis came skidding across the pavement and nearly hitting Reese in the process. He looked like he had taken a beating. This got the attention of Brandon and Velvet who came running.

"Whoa what happened to you?" Brandon asked, helping the knight.

"She-devil," Travis loosely breathed, he grabbed his axe that was latched to his back and used it as a support. He then pointed to one incredibly pissed off Coco Adel, who seemed to recover from her earlier bout with Sam.

She was looking ruff, no glasses, breathing heavily, and rubble dusted her clothing. Someone was going to pay big time. Brandon stepped forward, between them all.

"Coco," he calmly said, not trying to make any sudden movements, "listen this is my fault. I didn't know you were that overprotective of Velvet. I was too scared to ask her out in the open so I lied to her saying that the other guys were going to come along, and that you were coming too. They didn't do anything to Velvet, and neither did I. So can you please calm down."

Coco's eyes were practically bloodshot from the dust, it made her look even more demonic. Her purse shifted into a minigun and she fired without hesitation. Brandon braced for the impact as Velvet stood in fear. Brandon waited for a seconds… nothing happened. He looked to see Travis was standing there, XYZ in both hands now. Angry Coco fired another volley. Travis spun his axe around his fingers and hands like a giant turbine. The shaft of the axe along with the blade caught all the bullets before they could strike anyone else. Thank god for those training sessions.

Travis was tired, his breathing was just as bad as Coco's. "If she isn't going to listen to reason-" Travis said standing straight up with Reese coming to his side pulling out his two pistols.

Reese combined the two into their rifle form, "-then we'll beat it into her."

"Um, guys," Velvet said making them both turn to her.

"Velvet, it's fine," Travis reasoned with a smile, "think of this as payback for the 'swear-jar'. God knows I'm paying big time for this one." Travis looked to Reese, "My good Mandalorian ally, if you please." Travis readied his axe holding it by the bottom of the shaft with the flat side of the axe parallel with the pavement.

"Oh, I've always wanted to do this," Reese jumped up and landed on the flat side of the axe.

Travis stomped his right foot down and swung his axe, and Reese like a baseball bat. Reese used the momentum to launch off the axe and he sped off into the air, his jetpack increasing his velocity. The Mandalorian angled upward just before Coco could hit him with a swing. He aimed down the ironsights quickly before firing multiple shots, these shots are more concentrated than those of the pistols. Even in her tired though Coco was either able to avoid them, or in the case of the final shot, deflect them with her purse. Reese put his rifle into the pistols and holstered them, his jetpack turned off to conserve fuel which was rapidly running out. He would have to go hand-to-hand on this one, which wasn't all too bad as he was the better when it came to hand-to-hand combat. He descended upon Coco with an elbow that was blocked. He used gravity to pull her down, he released his elbow and she recoiled back up just in time to for left hook from the Percussionist. From the side he swiftly sent his foot to Coco's side, but this got grabbed and tossed aside. Because of this Reese got thrown off, enough to receive a blunt attack of the purse colliding with his armor which sent him flying.

Before she could pursue the executioner axe, XYZ, came barreling towards her like a thrown tomahawk. Coco recognized this move seeing as how Travis had become infamous for using this risky technique, but she knew how Travis followed this move up. Preparing for a strike to come from the left she guessed correctly and caught Travis off guard slamming him down, his armor protecting him. Coco raised her purse to slam back down at Travis, but he rolled out of the way.

"Reese, take it!" He yelled as he rolled away.

Reese came back in lifting XYZ out of the ground surprising Coco as he slashed with the axe across her chest. The blade of XYZ glowing orange showing the Fire Dust within it was superheating the blade. Reese flipped it up so it spun the air a few times and Travis had gotten back up and jumped over Reese, he grabbed the axe at the pommel and slammed it just shy of Coco's side. The Euphonium player then bent down where Reese used his green armored back as a stepping stone. The teamwork was to be admired if Coco was not in such a state. Reese grabbed Coco just as he fell tumbling to the ground. Placing her boot on Reese's stomach she lifted him in the air. The sudden change in momentum let Coco get up in time while Reese tried to send a kick her way. Coco knocked it back down with her purse which spun Reese around just in time for a second swing of the purse to send him into a nearby wall. Reese pulled himself off the wall and fell to the ground, he struggled to get up, but he ultimately fell to the ground.

"Reese!" Travis yelled, he sneered back at Coco, "Oh, you're a f******g dead woman now!"

Travis charged jabbing the axe forward which Coco dodged by slightly veering to the side. From there though Travis quickly adjusted his hands on the axe and swung point blank at Coco, the shaft lodging in her side. Travis pulled back the axe and did an overhead swing into a full flourish, looking like Ruby Rose to a degree if he was more reserved in his swings. The ground beneath him was scorched and scarred by the superheated blade, it cut and made divots in the concrete. At the end of his flourish Travis spun counterclockwise (that is actually the correct spelling, it's so long) and swiped Coco's side with the heated blade. Coco still had Aura, barely any at this point, and Travis little heat just pissed her even more. She growled and charged him, taking the initiative. Travis blocked the first swing but was thrown back by immense weight of the purse, it was surprisingly hefty. Coco went back in throwing her purse from side to side but Travis either blocked it with his axe or the armor took the brunt of the attack. Finally she had enough and changed it to her minigun while Travis was reeling back from a hit that threw his weight to the left. The shots felt like being smashed with a hammer at regular range, at point blank they felt like being bashed by thousands of baseball bats. Travis fell slightly to the ground and Coco shifted back to her purse, readied a strike, and sent Travis into a lamppost. The piece of illumination bent as the knight fell into it and the glass in it broke.

"Ow," Travis said simply before closing his eyes, his body was screaming in pain.

Coco then turned, with a predatory sneer, to Brandon. Velvet got in front of him though trying to snap out of whatever funk Coco was in. "Coco," she pleaded, "please stop. Brandon didn't know "

Coco wasn't stopping, she had to make them pay for ruining Velvet, for all she knew, they were forcing her to say that. How was she going do this? Fill them full of holes? Or smash them into oblivion? She looked like she was about to say something, then the white blade of Soprano came flying in. It pierced the strap of Coco's purse ever so delicately that it whipped the purse from her and lodged it in a wall far beyond Coco.

"Hey Coco!" All conscious, and semi-conscious, people there turned to see Sam at the side of the street, "She said to stop. You heard her."

Coco scowled at him and walked forward, Sam decided to run up to her. Hearing a familiar sound Sam looked to his right and saw the mirror entity looking directly back at him. He smiled and crossed paths with the entity several times, confusing all who were there, some more than others. He skipped, rolled, and ran in between his identical partner like one of those magic tricks that asks you to follow the cup with the ball in it only to be fool. Without her purse Coco had to throw a punch at Sam, only she had a fifty-fifty shot. She guessed wrong and her fist went through Sam, a ripple effect went through his body. Needing to end this quickly the real Sam grabbed the hand that Coco threw out, with his other he grabbed Coco's waist which trapped her other arm in a vice like hold. This action caught everyone off guard, even Coco, it even made her speak.

"What are you doing?" She demanded.

"I think the reason why you're so pissed is because you felt left out," Sam said, the two were a little too close for comfort.

"Um…Sam," Brandon said pulling both of the two's attention away, "what are you doing?"

Sam looked back at Coco, her eyes were wide with a hint of fear, a large blush across her lightly dusted face. _He can't be doing what I think he's doing._ Coco wanted to break out of Sam's embrace, but everything finally caught up with her. All the fighting, the running, all of Sam's chiding. It all caught up with her at the most inopportune time.

Sam smiled just a bit, he was very smug, "Giving Coco a little attention."

Coco was about to say something until Sam dipped her down ever so slightly. He paused to smile again and closed the distance. The two made lip contact, they just kissed.

Brandon and Velvet both blushed wildly, the muscles in Travis' chin which kept them close failed and his jaw hit the floor, and Reese… well we don't know what Reese was like because of the helmet covering his face. But he did use his voice.

"What the shit is with all this f*****g romance all of a sudden?!" (I too second the inquiry)

"Reese you killed the mood," Travis replied.

The kiss lasted for a total of five seconds (very nice there 'Sammy-boy'), and once that was over Sam pulled Coco back up to her feet. He looked back to the group with a shit-eating grin while it looked like Coco was still processing the whole thing. Her eyes were wide and her mouth slightly opened, you could have waved a hand in front of her and she wouldn't have noticed, she would have just kept staring. It was almost like she needed to be rebooted.

Velvet, being the caring teammate she was, walked up cautiously to Coco. "Coco…" she said, she placed her hand on her team leader's shoulder lightly, "are you alright?"

It appeared that the reboot worked. Coco jolted back to life, her head shivered slightly as she came to. "Oh, Velvet," Coco somewhat cheered, she appeared to have no recollection of what had just happened, "I've been looking all over for you." Coco looked around, then her eyes went wide once again and she stared, everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) caught up with her. She looked to Velvet with a half-lidded expression. "Hey Velv, I'm gonna take… a… nap… right now." Coco fell over and went unconscious. She fell away from Velvet and she couldn't catch her in time. Sam though was close enough and one the same side. He knelt down slightly to catch her before she hit the ground.

"I got her," he said as he hoisted her up slightly into a bridal carry position.

Travis and Reese both walked, more like hobbled, over to the group of four. "From now on," Travis said as he leaned on his axe for support, "tell us when you're going on a super-secret date."

"It's not really a secret then is it," Velvet gleefully joked, this surprised them all with her playfulness.

"I'd rather the whole f*****g school know about it, then me get chucked into a wall and pelted by a damn minigun," if Travis had any more energy he would probably be howling at them.

"Can we go home?" Reese asked, he sounded so pitiful and weak.

"Please," Travis begged.

"Yeah, Coco looks like she needs a nap," Sam said looking at the damsel in his arms.

"You two are both in trouble by the way," Travis said as they started to walk.

"Why's that?" Brandon asked.

"Well for starters you broke the rule we made without telling us, two you made me look all over town again when I already had to do that yesterday for Blake, third I got flung into multiple buildings, and four we're probably going to have to explain this to Goodwitch. God knows she needs more reasons to hate me."

"Oh, I don't think she hates you," Velvet said.

"I called her a 'whore' the first day we came to Beacon," Travis argued.

"Oh. Maybe you have a point."

Reese then decided to interrupt the lovely conversation. "Are we forgetting the fact that Sam over here not only kissed Coco Adel, but what I assume found his Semblance? I think we need to talk about that."

"Yeah I found my Semblance when fighting Coco earlier," the group then proceeded to give golf-claps, "from what I can see it summons a mirror copy that follows all of my movements, obviously mirrored movements."

"Yes," Travis noted, "I noticed you could cross the plane of symmetry."

"The what?" Velvet asked.

"The plane of symmetry is a term me and Reese are familiar to. We refer to it when creating a mirror image in a blueprint or drawing. That way in case we need to make a second half of a really complicated design we can just do a few simple clicks and have a full view of the model."

It made sense, when you got past all the gibberish in between and nonsense Travis spouted.

"But," Travis grew a large grin on his face, "I want to know why you decided a kiss would stop Coco?"

Sam blushed a bit and looked to the passed out woman in his arms, her beret slightly falling off before he grabbed it. "Umm, I can explain?" He mimicked Brandon's response from last night.

"No Sam I think we get it, you wanted to be alone with Coco in the first place when she caught up with us, you then come in all triumphantly when Coco kicked the living shit out of Reese and I. I think somebody has a 'thing' for Miss Coco Adel?"

"Umm no…possibly…maybe…kind of…sort of… yeah."

Travis laughed at Sam's embarrassment. "It's fine man, I don't blame you, you got quite the catch."

"Yeah but the rule we made-"

"Dude listen," Travis interrupted, "I don't think any of us were going to follow that frickin' rule because we are in a world and in a school filled with beautiful women, well maybe Reese because I think he's a robot from disguise."

"Hey," scratchy radio voice didn't help the already monotone Reese

"And we are still as hormonal as the rest of them, it was only a matter of time until one of us got a bit ballsy."

"Thanks for understanding," Brandon scoffed sarcastically.

"What are assholes for?" Travis retorted back.

Coco Adel woke up in her dorm room. It was the late afternoon, the orange glow of the sunset peering through the windows. She heard humming, her whole body hurt for some reason, it ached as she rose from her bed. She reached for her glasses on her nightstand, but they weren't there. She opened the drawer in it to find they were nowhere to be seen. She heard an *ahem* and noticed a fresh pair was being offered. Coco looked up to see Velvet holding the pair.

"Thanks Velv," she gratefully took them and placed them on her head.

"How are you doing?" Velvet asked.

"I don't know what I did, but I hurt like all over."

"After what you did, yeah you should be hurting all over."

"What did I do?" Coco asked, her mind must have blotted out the images.

"You don't remember?" Velvet asked coyly.

Coco's head tilted as she tried to think, it was all fuzzy, but she remember her being angry and- Coco suddenly remembered everything once again. "Velvet, I thought that was just a bad dream! I didn't mean to say those things to them I-" She felt Velvet embrace her in a hug.

"It's fine, they understood, but Travis is still a little livid after you fired your minigun at point blank."

"Ahh, he was swearing too much that day. We'll count it as payment for the swear.

"So I have to ask," Velvet let go of Coco and stood up, "how was it?" There was a small, smug grin. They appeared to switch places in terms of personalities in this instance.

"How was what?"

"Kissing Sam."

Coco immediately blushed, her whole face turned red as she remembered Sam kissing her. He was gentle, he didn't force anything, his embrace was comforting, and his lips were so- _No stop thinking about that! He's three years younger than you! And you do not go that way!_

"Coco," Velvet said snapping Coco out of her daze, "I know what you're thinking, and it's fine. I know Sam's a lot younger than you, but he said he's willing to wait if you are."

That seemed to calm her down, but Coco needed to chat with Sam. Privately. "Excuse me," she said pulling her sheets aside and standing up, she was still a little uneasy from the battering she took courtesy of the three Team BBRS kids.

"Where are you going?" Velvet asked, slightly worried of a repeat disaster.

Coco smiled behind her sunglasses. "Oh, I'm going to 'talk' with Sam."

 **So I know originally I said I wasn't going to ship character together, but promises are made to broken (I mean that's the whole reason they exist right?). I do not plan on having the romance the centerpiece of this story, didn't plan on it in the first so why would I make it the main piece of the story. Anyways I hope you enjoy, and there will be more chapters that may focus on the relationship between our characters. Again I apologize for the mild OOC-ness in Coco, I think it did kind of fit her, but I may have gone a tad too far. I'll try not to do that as much, but as I said there really isn't a whole lot of source material to go off of. Anyways, see ya later suckers.**


	12. Chapter 12: In Sickness and in Health

**Author's Note: Hello bitches welcome to another chapter to the story. This is the final 'in between arcs' chapter. After this we can get to some good old stories with plot, but still with hijinx because hijinx are funny and cool and fun to write and- you know what I think we've had enough of my rambling let's get on with this shit.**

Chapter 12: In Sickness and in Health

Reese woke up suddenly feeling the need to cough his guts out. His eyes shot wide open as air threaten to break the seal his lips had made. The Percussionist's head and upper torso went to a ninety degree angle as the flem in his throat could no longer stay put. The muscles in his throat agitated forced his mouth open as he coughed, and hacked like a lumberjack. It was unrelenting, it went on for minutes, maybe five or so. He took small breaths in between before spewing out the fresh oxygen because his immune system was turned upside down and inside out. Eventually, if not initially, it started to hurt. The inside of his throat felt like it was ripped apart. However, it ceased, and Reese took large breaths to make up for the lack of air. Reese then looked around the room. Travis was in his chair, he must have woken up awhile ago because he wasn't covered in a blanket and he had been drawing again, Travis' eyes were wide at what had happened for the last few minutes. Sam, too, had been in the room as well. He had plastered himself to the wall and kept his distance from the infected Mandalorian.

"Okay," Travis said turning the chair so he was fully facing Reese, "I think you need to stay in the room."

"What? Why?" Reese asked, his voice was hoarse and barely audible, he tried to put a bit of sarcasm in it but that was lost due to the scratchiness.

"Because someone got a bug," Travis explained, not hearing the implied sarcasm.

"I know that," Reese whispered which put less of a strain on his voice.

"Sure you do," Travis quickly replied, "besides the obvious, what's wrong with you?"

"Um...scratchy throat, headache but that could be you, cough. I think my sinuses are trying to tear my face inside out," Reese paused to feel his forehead, "and it looks like a fever."

"Well that sucks," Travis said, "don't try to walk around too much, god knows how tired we are from yesterday's 'events'." Travis put emphasis on 'events'. Travis was still a little salty about being flung into a lamppost by Coco All because Brandon surprised her friend Velvet with a date. Not only that but to 'calm' her down, Sam kissed her for a good long time. At least five alligators worth. "I'll go to the nurse's office and get some medicine. Just sounds like a fever to me."

"Yeah let's hope it doesn't spread," Sam said, the first time and he was still up against the wall like an insect.

Reese rolled his eyes, "Oh for god's sake Sam I don't think you'll get sick, just being close to me."

"That's not at all how that works Reese, stick to working with machines instead of working on biological issues," Sam pleaded.

"Fine, only if peel yourself from the wall."

"F**k," Sam breathed as he slowly removed himself from the wall, "happy?"

"I'm not unhappy," Reese said before beginning to cough again.

He hadn't even stopped before Sam ran up to the door and swung it wildly open, Sam then looked to Travis who rolled his eyes. "I'll get you some medicine," Travis said standing up and going to the door with Sam, "just get some rest and try not to infect anyone else." With that Travis and Sam left turning off the lights.

Reese's head fell back to the pillow, he groaned as his body ached away. _I hate this._

"I assumed this would happen sooner or later," Travis said as the two walked down the halls, he was scratching his chin.

"What?" Sam asked.

"Remnant does not have a one hundred percent match to the atmosphere on Earth, just one close enough for us to survive in. In actuality I believe it might be cleaner than ours due to the lack of smog and air pollution from oil and coal mining, I really don't know how Dust mining works yet. Along with the difference atmosphere the people have built up immunities to diseases that we have not. Ergo our immune systems are completely vulnerable to a multitude of illnesses that could be lying about, waiting for us.

"So," Sam was trying to follow Travis' logic, which at times could confuse even the smartest of people due to his consisting leaps from subject to subject, "why haven't we gotten sick before now?"

"I imagine it has to do with the Aura in our systems."

"You think so?"

"It's the only logical answer, unless this world has the exact same diseases, has had the same exact biological strands of illnesses, same outbreaks, and the same mutations to their DNA as our Home has."

"You could've just said 'yes' you know."

"Yes, but I don't get the satisfaction of speaking in such a manner," god Travis was like Weiss sometimes.

"Unless you get your shit kicked in," Sam snorted.

"Well at least when I fight I don't try to suck face with the batshit crazy she-devil of a woman," Travis turned and gave a devilish smile. Hearing that made Sam grow a tad red since Travis was bringing up Sam kissing Coco to calm her down. "Someone was being a, *ahem* forgive me for this, playa'." Travis made air quotes on the word 'playa'

Sam angled his head down to avoid Travis' smug gaze, "Can we not talk about that? Please?"

"No, no, I totally understand. You wanted us alone so you and Coco could get it on with some angry sex, I imagine she's a little freaky in the sheets as well."

Sam only blushed more. "Well at least I have a shot with somebody, I don't see you trying to be romantic or hear you pining for someone. Me and Brandon got brave with it."

"I believe Brandon lied to Velvet about their secret date. So that really isn't the best point to bring up. I will say that you had some f*****g balls back there. So good on you."

"Thank you," Sam felt his move validated.

"However," Travis' tone changed to one more softer and somber, "there are two reasons as to why I haven't tried to have a relationship with anybody here." Travis took a pause to breathe and stopped in front of Sam to make sure he got this, "Sam, I'm afraid. Not like how Reese is around multiple women, but I'm afraid that if were to fall for someone then I would have to make a terrible decision. I'm afraid that I will have to choose between the woman who I would have feelings for and Home. Would I be able to leave my love life back here where I will probably never be able to return. Or do I turn my back on the people who raised me, the people who I have spent my entire life with, the life I yearn to have again."

"I thought you said there was no way of going back Home?" Sam asked, the conversation was beginning to bring them both down.

"I only said it was a possibility that we could go back to Earth, a slim one I will agree, but there is still a chance. I don't know how we could, but I'm not going to give up on Home." Travis looked Sam dead in the eyes. They all knew it was a long shot to go back, but that didn't mean they had hope. Even Travis who could be the crudest, the meanest, a man who could insult you to dirt with years of experience still had hope that he could go back to his old life. "I miss them, I miss my family, I miss my friends. I miss Mr. Richards, I miss my hobbies and things I could design. But above all I miss the future I will probably never see to fruition while I'm here. What if we come back and it's past graduation for me and Brandon? What if we return and years pass? We don't know how our two universe's time flow. Here one day could be a week, a month, a year, or even a decade. What if we go Home, leaving all we have made here behind, and there is nothing left of our past lives? Everything we'd work for in two different worlds would be ruined. That's why I'm afraid Sam, I can't bear the thought of ruining one life for the other, leaving one behind to chase after something while my past is lost forever."

It was one of these rare moments where Travis was completely showing his true colors. Years of bullying had hardened his shell forcing him to be careful. He would share small bits of it, but rarely would he just let everything out. Sam thought Travis wouldn't be afraid of much, nothing the other three were afraid of. Grimm? Yeah obviously. Pissing off Coco? Been there, done that. Glynda? Need you ask. But he brought a point no one had thought of… or maybe one no one wanted to bring up. What were they, primarily Brandon and Sam, going to do? Well it was mainly Brandon, he was in the real relationship, Sam wasn't actually sure what to do about Coco. He had been avoiding her ever since dropping her off in her dorm room. He didn't know whether to go see her or keep avoiding her? What would he say? 'Hey how you doing? Listen about the time I stole a kiss off you-'

"Sam," Travis was pulled from his thoughts as Travis placed a hand on his shoulder, "I want you to know that I think what you and Brandon are doing is incredibly brave. I don't think I could do it myself."

Wait…what? Travis thinks they're being brave? Not stupid, or rash, or incredibly horny? Brave? Really? Brandon and Sa- Really?!

"I overthink every possibility and outcome when it comes to a romantic relationship, I've been in so few because of it," it was more of a shocker that Travis found someone to be in a relationship with. "The fact that you were able to go up to Coco, in as mad a state as she was in, and kiss her for a few seconds too long astounds me. I am perplexed, and even a bit in awe of you right now."

"Really?" Sam said, a bit egotistical now.

"Watch it," Travis warned jokingly, "I only say that because you think that everything will be alright. You and Brandon are optimists, 'glass half full' kind of people. Me and Reese are pessimists, 'glass half empty' people, I think Reese is more of a realist more than anything."

"Thanks?" Sam wasn't sure if that wasn't an insult or a compliment… or a backhanded compliment.

"I will tell you this though," Travis raised a finger, "if in the event we manage to find a way Home, you and Brandon will have a major decision placed in front of you. One more precarious than the one me and Reese currently must think about."

"Thanks," Sam knew what Travis was saying, and the worst part was he was right. That was the issue with Travis, he always seemed to the bearer of bad news. But something nagged Sam, "Wait, what do you mean by you and Reese have a less difficult decision?"

"As of right now we do not see any of the women, and trust me we are both straight, who we feel like we could be in a relationship with."

"Not even Yang?" Sam teased.

"I can easily lock you in with Reese right now, I imagine he would enjoy the company."

"Don't you dare."

"Then don't even think of me and Yang getting together, goddam I don't think I could survive those puns, the amount she has is extraordinary and unnerving. That being said if you choose to pursue Coco and we do get an opportunity to go back, you have to make a very difficult decision."

"Gee, you really know how to kill the mood," Sam looked down and the two started walking again, he suddenly got a thought, "hey Travis?" The Euphonium player's head looked to the side, "What would you do?"

"I don't quite follow."

"If, today, we could, would you?"

Travis took a while to think about his answer. "I honestly don't know."

"Really? You don't want to go Home? Even after your little speech?"

"Well that's a loaded question if I ever heard one. You must realize something all of us know deep down, but have never really voiced."

"And what's that?"

"Perhaps we do not wish to go back."

Sam got in front of Travis making him stop, the Saxophone player's eyes wide in shock. "What?! You're saying you don't want to go Home, to Earth, to your friends and family?!"

"It isn't that Samuel," Travis said, "we have lived here for a few months now and we have grown accustomed to our new life. Yes it is not how we imagined our lives being back Home, but it certainly something we enjoy. I see the smile you had while fighting Coco, the rush of adrenaline during the brawl." Travis noticed Sam looked a bit ashamed, "Sam, there is nothing wrong if you do enjoy this change in lifestyle. No one here will blame you for the decision you make. I have a hard time imagining trying to sit in a stuffy office all day when I know of a separate world where I could be fighting creatures from storybooks. That being said there are mornings where I yearn for the days where I can sit down and not have to deal with the trials this world faces." They resumed walking down the halls, "there is no right answer to this issue, and there will not be until we are face to face with the world that raised us and taught all we know, or the world that has protected us and where we have met people who we would consider brothers and sisters in arms. I hope you're thinking about that Sam, I know I am."

Damn, that killed the mood, and Travis knew, he hated doing that with every fiber of his being. He shook his head and tried to change the subject. "Have you talked to Coco lately?"

Sam looked down, "No, I haven't."

"And why not?"

"I don't know what to say to her."

"Well I'd start off with 'Hello'."

"Travis," Sam shot a glance to his teammate.

"Fine, fine," Travis tapped his chin, "have you thought of apologizing or explaining yourself. Something, and this is just a hunch, tells me that she doesn't like romance being sprung on her. I have no clue why that would be though." Travis was getting back to his usual sarcasm.

Sam sighed and looked to the moving ceiling, "I don't know, I've never been like in this type of situation."

"How many relationships have you been in?"

"One, and that was back in eighth grade, it really didn't count if you ask me."

"Hmm, yeah, something tells me that it doesn't count. Let's see how did I get over this issue?"

"I don't think I believe that you were in a relationship with anyone, at least anyone real."

"Funny, you should do standup," Travis quipped, "I keep my personal life a secret due to past experiences. But I entered the dating game my junior year of highschool, we were together for most of the year."

"What happened?"

"Really Sam?" Travis presented himself in front, "It's me. I said something and f****d it all up." While usually most were depressed talking about previous and failed love lives, Travis was smiling and joking about it. Either he had a good poker face or the guy had enough time to think about what he did, or said in this case.

"I see you took it well."

"Ahh, what can you do? Sometimes things just don't work out. But I will tell you that staying away from Coco and playing hide-and-seek won't help anything. Unless you were planning to play it in the dark where the two of you could do unspeakable things to one another in writhing agony of intercourse."

Sam just froze, he didn't look at Travis, he just froze and his mouth was agape. "Do you always have to make us feel uncomfortable with our personal lives?"

"No, I just love to watch you squirm." Travis angled his head to get a good look at the hallway they had been walking through. "Where the hell is the nurse's office around here?"

Then from the side came a voice, the two turned to see who came forward, "Hey Sam," it was quiet, and shy, maybe even a little fearful. The two saw Coco Adel, with a new pair of sunglasses. Sam knew why they were gone but Travis was completely clueless as to what happened, he thought of asking but he didn't wish to piss off Coco.

"Oh." Sam said softly, "Hey."

Travis looked back and forth between them, feeling incredibly uncomfortable. The silence didn't help with that as the two both looked down at the ground. "I'm, just…um, going to find the medicine myself. See ya guys later." Travis made his exit trying to make a scene."

"Yeah Travis," Sam said turning to his left.

"Sam," Travis turned back to him momentarily. Sam looked to his friend, "don't screw it up like I did." He had a small honest smile, "I still regret that decision." He then took his leave.

Travis left the two hunters in the hallway, maybe, they could get passed this. Maybe they could work something out. Travis hoped so. Coco deserved someone like Sam. "Now," he said to himself when he was alone, "where is that accursed infirmary?"

"So," Sam said with only Coco to hear, he was still looking down, "how are you?"

"Oh, not bad," Coco's gaze lifted up to see Sam's brown hair, "what about you?"

"Coco," Sam cut to the chase, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. It was completely inappropriate and I-" Sam was cut off by Coco kissing him on his cheek.

"You idiot," she told him, "I'm not mad at you."

"You're not? But I did that when you-"

"When I wasn't thinking straight, I let myself jump to conclusion. It happens, even to us Remnant natives." She smiled at that, using the term that the Earthlings used to describe the general feel of the people from Remnant. They didn't know if Remanese was a thing, so they stuck with Remnant natives.

"So what now? What do you want to do?"

"No big ideas? You seem to be full of those yesterday," Coco gave a weak smile.

"Coco, you got to know that I've never done any of this. Romance in general was never my strong suit, sure I can be charismatic and crap, but I never have been in a real relationship. Even when I went to kiss you," that made Coco blush, "I was so scared that I would mess up."

"You have to realize what this is like for me. Usually I'm the one outgoing one in the relationship, not the one who gets surprised by a sudden kiss."

"Can I ask if it was any good?"

Coco blushed again and averted her eyes, that was all Sam needed for an answer, he got a small smile from that.

"Coco, I want you to know, that I think you're one of the most badass women I think I've ever met. You took on Travis, Reese, me, and Travis and Reese working together. Those two have good synergy, you've even mentioned it in training. You wield a purse that probably weighs a literal ton, and you have such authority when you enter a room you make Travis, Travis Basco, fear a little. You are one of the most amazing, spectacular, commanding, and beautiful women I have seen in two different universes."

Well that was unexpected. A full on confession from Sam, I don't think even he expected to say that as his face looked away and he silently cursed himself for doing it. He was trying not to have his emotions play into this too much. It was to be an apology, not an 'I have deep feelings for you' kind of chat. Nice going Sam.

"Sam, I," Coco began, but had a hard time trying to figure it all out. She had been in relationships before, especially in Combat School, but there she hadn't been in one since she arrived at Beacon. There was too much to keep focus on, especially as a team leader, she had a lot to keep track of. She relaxed for just a night the other day and Brandon took Velvet on a surprise date for heaven's sake. Now she reacted prematurely but that wasn't the point. Coco turned her back for one night and one of her teammates goes off with some guy. It was tough being team leader, and the trials never stopped. "I don't really know what to do," she admitted, "you're a nice guy, you really are, but I… I just don't know."

"And that's fine."

What? Usually anyone, and truly anyone, would be heartbroken at that. It was one of those lines that ruined any chances of having a personal bond between two individuals.

"I don't know the full extent of what I'm feeling. I know that I care for you, but I don't know how far it goes. I don't know if you feel the same but I-" Sam was stopped by another kiss, this one on the lips. Sam fully stopped, he now knew how Coco felt the other day, his brain ceased to function ad his eyes were practically forced open as he felt the sensation of Coco's lips on his.

She pulled off him after a little bit. "Sheesh, you need to stop rambling sometimes." Coco appeared to gain her cocky attitude again as she placed her hands on her hips. Sam collected himself and tried to stop blushing from Coco's charisma. "I'll say this though," she put a hand to his cheek, "you are really sweet and I like that about you. But," she raised a finger and Sam felt his whole heart stop at that moment, "I think I need some time to think."

Surprisingly, Sam was fine with that, if anything he was relieved to hear that. "I'm actually not bothered by that."

"Really?" Coco lowered her glasses, a bit skeptical.

"No, I'm serious. There's been a lot on both of our plates. Between classes, Travis being a pain, the tournament coming up. I think getting into a relationship isn't the best idea right now."

"That is oddly mature of you."

"I'm surrounded by a world where the occupation we chose involves fighting monsters that want to end humanity. It does stuff to you okay." Coco and Sam both laughed at that. "Coco, I am fully okay with having to wait for you. I've never been in a real relationship so this is all new to me, and I'm nervous to all hell. So when you're ready, all you have to do is come find me, I won't be too far." He grabbed Coco by the hands and pulled her in. He closed the distance and kissed her on her cheek reciprocating what she did earlier. The two broke from the warm embrace by the sounds of crying, weeping. The group turned to see their favorite Earth-Remnant Couple: Brandon and Velvet. Velvet stood with a warm smile while Brandon, and this was truly shocking, was covering his eyes with his sleeve as he cried away. Who would've thought Velvet was going to wear the pants in their relationship?

"Don't look at me right now!" Brandon demanded trying to wipe away the tears, "Sam that was so beautiful!"

"I'm glad I chose Sam over you 'waterworks'," Coco teased.

"I'm not crying I got something in my eyes," Brandon tired to argue, but they all weren't convinced.

"There, there," Velvet patted Brandon's back, "it's alright."

"So, what have you two been doing?" Coco asked, she smiled a bit cheekily, "Better not've been each other."

Velvet's whole complexion turned red while Brandon was pulled from his crying, his eyes red from the act. "Coco!" Velvet shrieked in embarrassment.

"Aw relax Velv," Brandon said, "she's just feeling jealous."

The room went into a quiet atmosphere, Sam was doing his best to hold back laughter, Velvet wasn't sure which side to take, and Brandon along with Coco were in a staring contest. Coco broke it by shaking her head to the ground and chuckling. "I think someone's been hanging around Travis too long. I can't put my finger on it, but I got a hunch."

"Yeah something tells me we need to watch out for Velv," Brandon pointed back to the rabbit faunus, "Travis is a bad influence on her. I say we limit the time she gets to be near him."

Coco, Sam, and Brandon laughed at that. Velvet was not pleased by the jabs. Coco looked like she was about to leave. "Oh, Brandon?"

"Yes Coco?"

Coco immediately grabbed Sam by the arm and pulled him into a surprise lip lock, and god damn did it catch him off guard. His arms were back from the initial velocity. This kiss was more passionate than the others. The others were done gently, no one forced anything, they almost pleaded for one another. Not here though, not at all. This was fiery, electric, Coco pulled on Sam's body to get them closer to each other. Sam swore he felt Coco's mouth about to open and begin a fren-

Coco pulled away from the kiss with a satisfied 'Ahh' dropping Sam to the ground where he landed with a loud *thud*. He was in a daze of happiness. "I'm not jealous," Coco finished with a turn and she walked away, "come on Sam. We have business to discuss." She walked away, a sultry sway in her movements forced Sam to stand up and weigh his options.

"Sorry," he said to them, "gotta go." Sam ran off after Coco, he probably ran faster than Ruby's Semblance..

Brandon and Velvet were alone, in shock that is noteworthy. What had they just witness?

"Well," Brandon was the first to speak, "that was a thing." (Excellent observation Brandon)

If there was one issue with Beacon Academy, out of the many upsides, was that there weren't directions. No maps, no arrows, no 'Destination in X feet'. It was a pain to find this stupid infirmary. Why was it, in a school made for fighting, so difficult to find a f*****g infirmary? Travis arrived at an intersection. One way lead to the outside, one to the cafeteria, one that he didn't know, and the other to the sparring rooms. _May as well be adventurous._ Travis went down the mysterious path. He walked down and got a good look at the architecture, which usually was breathtaking, but Travis hated architecture. He hated to draw it and it jaded the Euphonium player. Multiple times in class he would have to take a break from his usual designs to draw a godforsaken house. It was so boring. As he would put it: 'It's just drawing boxes, and boxes, and more boxes'. Seeing and remembering the architecture made his blood boil a little.

"What's wrong with boxes?" He asked himself peeled himself from his thoughts as he opened the door and found himself in the library, his right eye went wild in anger and his face contorted. "Oh for f***s sake!" He yelled a little too loudly.

"SHHHHH!" Multiple people hissed at him, they were more than a little pissed at him.

"Oh, shut up," he walked through the library keeping a grimace.

"Travis?" He heard a voice call out from the side. Travis looked to his left to see Weiss Schnee standing in between two shelves giving him a questioning look. As Travis looked in he could see the other members, Yang, Ruby, and Blake, sitting around a table with an odd thing covering it.

"Hey," he said simply trying to be casual, "what's up?"

"Do you want to explain why you were yelling in the library?"

"Umm… I thought I saw a dog having sex with a raccoon?"

"What?" Weiss had heard Travis say some pretty ridiculous things, but that was just stupid.

"Sorry, I have something else on my mind."

"I'm afraid as to what that is."

"Very funny. What are you doing? I know you tend to be one who studies often but classes are over for now. So what brings you to a library?"

"Well Ruby wanted us to play a board game and you know how she is."

"A broad game? Why didn't you tell me you had this earlier?"

"Do you like board games?" Weiss was surprised by this.

Travis composed himself a little, "Dear madam, I love board games, they are a popular pastime for us nerds back Home. Mind if I watch?"

"Uhh," Weiss was a little baffled by Travis inquiry, "sure."

"Great," Travis helped himself to the table. "What's up girls?"

"Oh, not much, what's was with the foul language back there?" Yang asked.

"Reese got sick and I've been trying to find the damn nurse's office around here and-"

"Oh, the nurse's office? We don't really have one around here," Ruby informed as she was fumbling with the cards in her hand.

"Why not?"

"Well we have Aura, so we don't need help from physical injuries, it also protects us in the case of illness. So it surprises us to hear Reese got sick," Blake said,

"There is one key issue you're forgetting here: we are not from your world."

"What does that have to do anything?" Yang asked, she then decided to tease the earthlings, "You saying you're weaker than us?"

"It is not that, I believe we are stronger in areas you are not and weaker in the aspects our world depends on. But moving from that, I mean we do not have the same immunities as you do, there are many foreign ailments that we are not used to."

"Uh what?" Ruby asked scratching her head in confusement.

"In our world there is a prevailing theory called 'Natural Selection'. Think of it like 'survival of the fittest' but on a biological level. When there were multitudes of creatures adapting to the world around them, many were wiped out due to illness or predators. Well in the terms of illness some had mutations, the freaks of the litter compared to the rest, these mutations allowed them to live. They adapted to their surroundings and changed the course of their species after being the last of their kind. Reese, me, Brandon, and Sam are not adapted to your environment, our immune systems are not completely designed to handle the diseases here. I'm sure we'll be fine since Reese isn't too bad, but he'll have to grin and bear it since there isn't a f*****g doctor's office around here. That seems like a major oversight."

"If something bad happens then we just send someone to the hospital," Blake said in a 'matter-of-fact' tone, "but I don't quite fully grasp what you're explaining."

Travis looked at Blake trying to think of a way to explain something so common back home. Then it hit him. "Ah, think of it like this. Here on Remnant there are two sentient species. There are the humans and the faunus. At one point, at the very beginning of existence, these two species may have been one. During existence it is safe to say one with a mutation, a faunus trait, survived to pass on that trait to his progeny and the cycle continues to this day. I'm probably wrong in saying that these two species were one, but that's the example I'm going to go with."

The group was slightly impressed with Travis' observation. No one really knew where the faunus came from, kind of hard when nothing was really recorded back in ancient times, but there were always just there. Weiss' head shot up.

"Wait you said Reese was sick?"

Travis nodded, "Yep fever, cough, sinus congestion, a crappy sore throat, and pissed off demeanor."

"I think I may know on how to get some medicine."

Everyone raised an eyebrow. "You do?"

"Yeah, I can mix some Dust with some other liquids to make a medicine. My mother always did it for me," Weiss explained.

"Good, then allow me to come with," Travis said.

"But," Ruby's voice cut through, "Weiss we were going to play a game."

"Ruby," Weiss sort of snapped at her, "Travis' friend is sick and he doesn't have access to medicine. A board game can wa-"

"I'll join in," Travis interrupted.

"Really?" Weiss asked.

"Really?! Ruby seemed so happy by that.

"Yeah, you don't need me to help you with the Dust thing, I'll probably ask more questions than you're willing to answer."

"O-okay then, I see you later."

"Oh and Weiss?"

Weiss turned around to see Travis throw something small to her. It was tiny, barely bigger than the top of her finger. It had a number on it along with two letters, '8GB', printed across it. Gold little tips lined the top as if it needed to be inserted somewhere. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"If Reese is up when you get there give it to him, tell it's a gift from me. He'll enjoy it, trust me."

Weiss was still perplexed, but decided not to argue with Travis on this, she walked away shortly after.

"What was that?" Yang asked.

Travis kept his gaze to the fleeting shape of Weiss and looked at her silhouette passing by the windows. He sighed, a bit melodramatically.

"A piece from our past."

Weiss curiously examined what Travis had just given her, It was some kind of chip by the looks of it, but for what purpose she didn't know. She knew Team BBRS was secretive, they had been the very first day they arrived, but now with Weiss knowing their origin why did they have hide anything? Did they not fully trust them? They watched video after video Team BBRS had recorded to answer many questions they had of Earth, so what else could there be. Before she went to Reese she entered her own room and grabbed some Dust she had spare. Opening a book about healing illnesses she made the concoction. The Dust was to strengthen the Aura so the body could heal faster. Just as she finished the mixing she heard loud coughing being muffled by the wall, it must have been Reese, he sounded awful. She hurried the mixing and soon she had a glass of red liquid in front of her eyes. She shook it to make sure the Dust was completely liquidized. Weiss was peeled from that task as another coughing fit erupted, this one much worse. Weiss walked out of her room and knocked on her next door neighbor's door. For a short time there was nothing, she tried again. A cough and then Reese spoke.

"Travis?" His sick voice weakly called out.

"Um, it's Weiss," she said behind the door, "can I come in?"

"Enter at your own risk," he told her before coughing twice.

Weiss opened the door and found Reese still in his bed looking at her. His eyes were red, dark rings lined them, and was paler than Weiss. He raised his arm over his mouth to cough, and boy did it sound painful. His eyes winced in pain as his throat violently spasmed and contracted, Weiss stopped where she was and waited for him to stop. It was a solid three minutes of him coughing. _Jeez Travis was right about him being sick._ "I brought some medicine," she raised the glass full of red liquid up so Reese could see.

"You did?" Reese looked at the liquid with curiosity. Reese actually looked happy when Weiss nodded, a bit odd for the usually stoic figure. Weiss moved close enough for him to grab the glass. When it was closer he looked, sniffed, and tasted a bit using his finger. It tasted awful, but then again most medicine did.

"Oh just drink it!" Weiss snapped, Reese nearly dropped the glass from that in his weakened state. After giving her a glare Reese lifted the glass to his lips and started to drink it. The taste was awfully bitter, the aftertaste was way worst. It tasted like vinegar mixed with mustard cooked in onions and turnips. Reese just about spit it out the second it touched his tastebuds. Eventually after much contemplation the liquid was finally swallowed, a small coughing fit ensued. However, Reese felt relief soon after. His throat calmed down, his head cleared, and the fever subsided. He blinked a few times and looked back to Weiss.

Something happened though, something felt odd, he got an odd feeling in his stomach. He felt his whole body grow hot, but it was a different heat he was feeling. It wasn't burning, it was searing and the sight of Weiss sent him into overdrive for some reason. At that very moment, Reese looked at Weiss in a way he hadn't looked at somebody in years. She looked perfect, her pale white skin was perfectly reflected by the incandescent bulb. Her white hair elegantly to one side, combed to perfection. Reese could feel himself getting lost in the light blue pools of her eyes, and he didn't mind at all.

Weiss noticed that Reese had somewhat changed in his demeanor, he was acting odd, he kept staring at her. She slowly walked backwards, not making any sudden movements, her hand reached the doorknob and she quietly turned around. "Okay Reese," she wasn't sure what was happening, but she didn't wish to stick around, "let me know if the medicine worked later and I will be-" She made a surprised squeak as Reese grabbed one of her arms and lifted it into a dance position. Her other arm was grabbed by the wrist. "Reese! Release me!" She demanded, she took a look at her grabbed wrist and struggle, Weiss then looked to him and saw a different Reese. A small smile, his brown eyes staring deeply into hers, even though she struggled he felt warm and kind. The f**k was going on?

"Oh, but _mademoiselle,_ the day is still young and fresh like you," Reese was talking in a different voice, a whole other different accent (french), his personality had changed dramatically. Reese was the stoic one, the calm one under pressure (unless being chased by multiple women), he was one of the few to be able to get Travis to shut up, and he was pretty good in fight. This… this was different. This Reese was suave, charismatic, and a bit enticing, "you said to tell you when the medicine worked, and _voila_ , I am healed by your magic." Reese rose one of Weiss' hands to his lips and kissed it softly. Weiss blushed immediately and felt trapped.

"Reese let go!" She yelled pulling one of her hands away. In a swift, fluid motion, Reese pulled on the other hand and twirled her to the middle of the room like a ballerina. She stopped herself after the fourth spin. "Ugh," she said fighting the urge to vomit.

"Is my _ange des neiges_ feeling okay?" Weiss in her slightly dazed face didn't notice Reese had run his hand under her chin. She pulled back.

"Reese, you're not thinking straight, snap out of it!"

"Your words sting me madam, why must you hurt me so?" Reese raised a hand to her, " Do you not accept my love?"

"Your what?!"

"Holy shit," a calm voice said from the door. Weiss and this lovesick Reese turned to see Travis, Ruby, Yang, and Blake. Travis had a calm but surprising look on his face, Yang was grinning wide and mischievously, Ruby was blushing covering her face slightly, and Blake was wide eyed with surprise. "Do we need to leave?"

"What?!" Weiss shrieked, "No!"

"Yes, yes," Travis noticed Reese's spot on french accent, "let them be witnesses of our undying love, my little _ange des neiges._ "

"His what?" Yang turned to Travis confused.

"I don't know, my french is incredibly rusty, but judging by _ange_ I'm going to say it has something to do with angels. Maybe snow angel seeing as who we're talking to."

"Wow Weiss," Yang turned to her teammate, "did another one fall for you?"

"I don't know what happened," she walked closer to her team and Travis, "he just started acting like this after I gave him the medicine. And what is french!?"

"French is one of the many languages spoken back Home, it is one of the most common at that too," Travis explained, "it is also been known as the language of love."

"WHAT?!"

"Ahh, but it is true my little snow flower," 'French Reese' spoke, "back in our wondrous Home, _français,_ is the language the song birds sing, the words spoken by the morning wind, and the sound of the soul." God, Reese had a way with words sometimes.

"I'm not gonna lie," Yang said, "little turned on right now." This got her a slap from Ruby.

"Yang!"

"What?"

"We don't need you to swoon over what appears to be a lovesick-Reese," Travis explained. He got in between Weiss and Reese. "Reese," he said calmly, "buddy, why don't you go back to bed, apologize when you wake up, and we can put this whole thing behind us. Sound good?"

"Hmm," Reese put his finger coyly to his chin, "no."

"Goddamnit."

Reese then, in a quick movement, that shouldn't have been possible for a sick person. Jumped up, did a corkscrew, and kicked Travis square in the jaw. The knight went straight into the wall, a predatory gleam in Reese's eyes shot toward Weiss. Weiss in response just walked back, her team giving her room to do so. Reese was about to make a run for it until Travis came sprinting back and full on tackled Reese to the ground. The two struggled while Travis pinned him down.

"Girls run!" Travis yelled.

"But Travis-" Ruby tried.

"F*****g run bitches! Unless you want 'frenchy' over here to scoop Weiss away and do god knows what with her! Find some way to reverse whatever happened to him! I'll try to hold him off."

"Don't need to tell me twice," Weiss said in a very uncharacteristic tone before sprinting off.

"Good luck," Yang gave a quick salute with two fingers before the others ran off with Weiss.

Travis was then thrown off by Reese who gave him a pissed off glare. Travis, calmly walked to the door, closed it, and locked it from the inside. He cracked his knuckles, and neck then sneered to French Reese.

"We're going to have a little talk."

The first thing Weiss did was grab Myrtenaster, the second thing she did was grab her book of Dust she used to make Reese's medicine. Her teammates all stopped in the library where they were before and immediately went to search for what happened. Ruby and Yang were going through other books of Dust mixtures, Blake was researching on the terminals. Weiss was furiously fingering- _No, do not think like that!_ -thumbing, thumbing through the book. Over and over she flipped through the pages to find out the reason for Reese's recent…development. Ailments, perhaps she read the wrong ingredients, maybe she just messed up. _No, I did not mess up! Maybe I got the wrong medicine and-_ Weiss froze as she noticed something, in the spine of the book were the remnants of torn pages. Looking back at the table contents she went to the page where the medicine was supposed to be, and the page was missing. In its place was the page for… what? Why?! Why the F**K was that there?! Who even came up with that kind of sick thing?!

A single page behind where the medicine recipe was supposed to be was a (and this is comedy gold here for leverage) 'Love Potion'.

Yes.

A Love Potion.

"The-how-what-YANG!" Weiss shouted in the quiet library.

Yang, Blake, and Ruby stormed back to their white colored teammate frightened by her sudden change in mood. "Yes?" Yang asked.

"Why is there a page missing from this book?!" She pointed the book in Yang's face showing the ripped tears and the Love Potion page.

"Umm…well you see…"

 **-Quick Flashback to god knows when-**

A piece of paper was thrown from Ruby's bed. The paper bounced off the rim of the trashcan and landed on the floor with a few more pieces of balled up paper to give it company. _Ugh,_ Ruby said to herself as she threw her head back.

"Well, that's your first try, mess up again and I'll be the 'Horse-Champion of Beacon!" Yang proudly proclaimed raising her arms up.

"You're the worst," Ruby said, "next time no shots from the top bunks!"

"Still got to make the shot."

"Yeah but I got no more notebook paper to throw."

Yang looked around the room. "Ah! Perfect," Yang jumped down from the top bunk and to the desk in the front of the room off to the side. On it was a book, Weiss' Dust Mixtures.

"Umm, Yang. Shouldn't we ask Weiss before we- *riiiiiiiippppp*"

"Nope!" Yang smiled evilly, "She wasn't going to use this anyway." The older sister threw the crumpled up paper to her younger sister. "You got a shot to make."

Ruby took a breath, and another, annnddd another. She closed her eyes before exhaling one last time. She prepared a shot, she took aim, and like a catapult she launched the piece of paper, completely unaware of how important that paper may be in the future. The paper flew the air majestically as any piece of paper could. The paper landed, in slow motion, it bounced once on the rim, again gaining less and less height, it appeared stuck for a second before it fell. Only it fell out of the trash can, like toppling building all the suspense was built for a single second.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ruby fell in defeat with the piece of paper.

"Oh yeah!" Yang fist pumped in the air, "I'm the best!"

Oh, how much she did not know that a single piece of paper was going to do to a certain earthling.

 **-Back to the present in the library-**

"You did WHAT?!" Weiss screamed, much to Ruby and Yang's despair.

"It wasn't our fault we didn't know what it was," Ruby tried to defend herself.

"You ripped a page from one of my books, and you thought it wasn't important?! You dolt!" Weiss was about to rip into both of the sisters until her scroll started buzzing. It was Travis, hopefully he would have some good news. "It's Travis," she told her team, "Travis? What happened?"

She heard coughing and groaning on the other end, but it wasn't Reese's that's for sure. "*cough cough* Son of a bitch got the drop on me. He's better at hand-to-hand than I thought. You better hurry and find a solution soon, he's using the heat seaking functionality in his helmet to find you."

"He's what?!" Weiss grew a sense of dread.

"I'm going to contact Brandon and Sam, but you better find some remedy for 'frenchy', I'm going to have to sit this one out." Travis ended the call right then and there, probably to get the warning to his other teammates.

"Travis? Travis?!" Weiss wanted more from the knight, but didn't. She turned to her friends who were worried. "We need to move."

They were sprinting down the halls ignoring everyone and everything around them. The main plan consisted of getting out of the enclosed areas and get to an open courtyard. From there they could either bring Reese down and undo whatever happened to him, or one of the faculty could beat him to a pulp. Right now they were getting close to the outside. Just a few more meters and…

Reese shot through the side of the hall, if it wasn't for Blake's hairline trigger Weiss would have been scooped up by the entranced lover. Blake bounced off the wall and grabbed Weiss rolling off to the side. Reese, who wasn't happy at that, growled and fired two warning shots from his energy pistols. The laser bolts landed on the floor just before the two, scorching the flooring.

" _Chaton_ , please release my _ange des neiges_ and we can all go in peace."

"And what if she doesn't want to go with you?" Blake questioned.

"Oh, but you did not see the gleam in her eyes, the fiery passion of love in her soul like I did, the way she trembled at my touch, the way she beckoned could only be heard by _moi._ "

"Gotta admit," Yang said to her sister, "one heck of a talker." This earned another slap to the back of her head.

"Not helping."

"If you wish for proof of this, then let's ask our little _ange des neiges,_ " Reese told everyone.

Out of the corner of Weiss' eyes she saw the one thing that might give her hope. Surprising seeing as to who it was, she hated him, despised him and his consistent name calling, but he was sure better than Reese right now. "Jaune!" Weiss yelled.

Jaune Arc had been just walking back from a walk around the school grounds to get away from Nora. He had been focused on a few other things and hadn't noticed the scene forming. Jaune's head shot up from looking at the ground, Weiss' voice was always pleasant to hear, a small smile found its way on his face. "Hey girls, how's it going Reese?"

"As of right now, I cannot complain," Jaune was thrown off by the french accent Reese had.

"Umm, are you ok man?"

"Jaune!" Weiss got his attention, "Defend me from this crazed romantic!"

Normally, Jaune would not try to hurt someone because someone said so. But since this was Weiss, his snow angel, he would definitely defend her to the depths of hell itself. "Um Reese, do you think you could step away from Weiss?"

"And why should I do that?"

"Because I want to protect my Snow Angel."

Reese paused as Jaune said his pet name for Weiss, he stared back at him. If he didn't have his helmet on, a sneer could be seen across the charismatic and romantic Reese's face. Weiss rolled her eyes as Jaune, once again, used that accursed name for her. However the rest could feel Reese get exponentially angrier. He removed his helmet showing his face, he gave a smile and put his hand to Jaune shoulders.

"What did you call her?" Reese, was two seconds away from punching Jaune in the crotch.

Jaune realized he made a mistake getting involved just by hearing the frenchman's tone. "Umm,' he started to stutter, meekly he squeaked out, "Snow Angel."

Reese gave a small coy smile and patted Jaune lightly. "That is fine if you have feelings for Weiss," that surprised everyone in the room, "it just means I will have to eliminate you from stealing my _ange des neiges_ ' heart you _vous êtes un lâche jaune._ " There it was.

"I'm sorry what?" Jaune said, backing up slowly.

Reese smiled, his grin going across his whole face. "You. Yellow. Bellied. Coward." Reese said making sure each word dug into Jaune. "Now run along, there are plenty of fish in the sea for a _vous êtes un lâche jaune_ such as yourself, maybe a certain red haired spar-" Reese was interrupted by a swing from Jaune and Crocea Mors.

"She said," Jaune swung again, but it was easily telegraphed, Reese dodged to the other side, "to leaver her alone!" At this moment Jaune just saw Reese as another bully, he didn't know about the potion's effect on him, but he was tired of being pushed around.

"Why don't you stop with the pet names and the desperate attempts at getting her attention when she is clearly not into you?" Ooh, that one stung, "You cannot simply get a hint. So let my burning desire for her show you." Reese smirked and narrowed his eyes as his whole body erupted into flames. Needless to say, they were all shocked, only Blake really knew about Reese's Semblance.

"What the heck?!" Yang yelled, "Since when did they have Semblances?!"

"We have souls so we are capable of Semblances _beauté en or brûlante,_ and mine let's me ignite myself with my burning passion for Miss Schnee." Reese turned to face a rather nervous Jaune, "Now where were we?"

Jaune was in so much pain. One: from being flung through multiple walls by Reese, two: from Reese's Semblance burning into his Aura, three: Reese's laser pistol really stung. Jaune was flung through the wall and into an open courtyard, where multiple people were usually at. A small group formed around Jaune who was just getting up, Reese was walking through the hole he had just made. His helmet held by his hand and placed up against his hip. The flames dying down for now showing his smile, usually with his Semblance it covers his face and only leaves some orange lights for eyes. Jaune looked back at Reese, he pulled back up his shield and sword. Reese only shook his head, sighed, and placed the Mandalorian helmet on his head.

"You really don't know when to give up?" The scratchy, french accent, voice asked before his jetpack ignited and Reese rocketed to Jaune.

The Arc placed his shield up to defend but Reese reorientated his body so his feet landed right on the shield. The initial force of the blow made Jaune skid back, Reese narrowed his eyebrow in in annoyance and reignited the pack. Jaune pushed himself forward when the weight of another person was lifted, it sent him forward a few steps too far though. Reese took the opportunity to slam his foot down from above using an axe-kick motion. The heel of Reese's foot kicked down the top of the shield creating an uncomfortable feeling in Jaune's wrist. The face of the shield slammed down under Reese's axe-kick and Jaune was flung forward after he let go of the shield. Reese grabbed him in and fired two quick shots from one of his pistols straight into Jaune's chestplate. Then Reese used that same arm to punch Jaune in the jaw and then violently whack him with his elbow. Jaune was sent sprawling backward and spun a bit. Reese fired up his jetpack to catch Jaune. Reese, along with Jaune, zoomed off into the air high into the clouds. Reese then shifted his back so the pack was pointed back to the clouds and the two were on a crash course for the ground. Just before Reese hit the ground he dropped Jaune and made a small arc so he didn't crash into the ground like his opponent. A large crater was in the ground where the Arc warrior landed, he was still alive and thanks to his rather large amount of Aura he should only be dazed.

"And now to find my _ange des neiges,_ " he said to himself, leaving Jaune. When he turned though a large blade was thrown at Reese. He narrowly dodged the large, two-handed sword thrown at him. It stuck straight up in the ground where Reese could fully see it. "Oh for god's sake," he said as he looked at the Grimm-Mourne (still sounds better on paper). Reese rolled his eyes as to what was going to happen next. From his right side he felt someone grab him, someone strong, and roll on the ground. Using his jetpack he freed himself and got situated again landing on the ground. Facing him were Brandon, Velvet, Team RBY, and most importantly his little _ange des neiges._

"Ahh, Brandon good to see you, are you done f*****g Velvet's brains out?" His french accent growled, a blush across Velvet's face appeared and the four girls of team RWBY all looked to Brandon who picked up his sword from the ground.

"You know I would never do that to her," Brandon said simply, he did look like he was in a good mood.

"Oh? But this world is full of surprises, and we have done things that we have never thought of doing before. So who knows what we do in our spare time."

"Well apparently you've turned into a hopeless romantic who speaks french."

"You can think my _ange des neiges_ for the medicine that healed my ailments, no thanks to you when you had us running around trying to find you to stop Coco yesterday."

"I told you I was sorry," Brandon sneered at Reese, he pointed his blade at him.

"Sure," Reese retorted, "and I am not in love with Weiss." The Schnee heiress blushed probably more than Velvet did earlier and looked down.

"Man," Brandon looked to Weiss, "the hell kind of Love Potion did you make him?"

"A strong one," Weiss regretted, "I thought it was a medicine so I made a really strong dose."

"Great," Brandon turned back to face Reese, "you need to take a cold shower Reese."

"Maybe I will, if Weiss were to join me."

Everyone just blushed at that, Weiss nearly fainted, and Yang thought about killing Reese on the spot for possibly ruining Ruby's innocence. What was with the earthlings and ruining Ruby?

"Okay," Weiss snapped she walked forward and pointed her rapier at the Mandalorian, "I've had enough."

"Such a shame that I must hurt _ma fleur délicate,_ " Reese ignited his arms, "but as the old saying goes, 'love hur-" Reese was stopped by something smashing his head down. Everyone was confused but they were solved when they saw Coco Adel and Samuel Perish standing behind the collapsed form of Reese Martins, the blow from Coco's demonic purse incapacitating him.

"Well that was simple," Coco announced, "you would think that helmet of his would be harder to get through.

"Coco?" Velvet asked, "How long have you two been there?"

"Oh, not long, we just got here after 'Fabio' over here dropped Jaune like a ton of bricks," Sam informed.

"Jaune!" Ruby and Yang yelled remembering Reese threw him into the ground.

"I will say this," Coco noted, "lover-boy over here sure has a silver tongue."

The whole group left where Reese was and walked over to see how their friendly knight Jaune was. He was…napping? Or at the very least unconscious, but Reese left his mark in the form of a bruise on his left cheek.

"Aww man," Yang laughed, "P-money is gonna kill Reese for that."

"I'm sure we can talk her out of that terrible fate Miss Xiao Long," a calm voice said behind them making them all jump a bit. Behind them was Headmaster Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch who was beyond pissed. Pissed was an understatement at this point.

"Do you always have to sneak up like that?" Brandon asked.

"Not always, but it keeps you on your toes," he took a sip from his mug, "now why don't you explain to me as to why I have two unconscious students, a broken wall, and a cracked courtyard."

"I believe I can give you the details." All members present, student and faculty alike, turned to see Travis Basco bruised and beaten, but still alive. Travis walked over to the knocked out Reese and hoisted him up over his armored shoulder. "We have a lot to explain. So we best get started when you show me where the f*****g infirmary is, because your students don't sure as hell know where it is."

Reese woke up with a pounding in his head, his ears were ringing, and his throat was dry. This must've been what a hangover felt like. When he opened his eyes the bright, yellow incandescent bulbs nearly blinded him. He groaned as his eyes wished to be closed again, but someone had to speak.

"How we doing 'Romeo'?" The voice was Travis.

When Reese came to he noticed he was back in his room, for some reason his memory was pretty foggy. "Ugh, Travis," Reese groaned, "what happened?"

Travis started to chuckle, then full out laughter ensued. "Oh god this is going to be one hell of a story to tell. So it all started when Weiss tried to make some medicine…

…so after explaining your romantic escapades to Glynda and Ozpin, not a fun conversation by the way, they decided to let you off easy because of the side effects of the potion. The same side effects you're feeling right now."

Reese was ashamed, very ashamed. It barely took a minute for Reese to hide his face in his hands, it especially went downhill at the use of the french language. He now was regretting taking it in high school.

"Is there anything else I should know?" Reese was half regretting asking that question.

"Yeah, you've been knocked out a day now."

"What?!"

"It's true, we've been taking turns watching in case 'frenchy' decided to come back," Reese averted his face so Travis couldn't see himself blush, Travis was still able to see, "nah, I'm just joking we cared for your well being."

"Gee, thanks."

"What are assholes for? But I will tell you one thing," Reese looked to Travis, "you need to apologize to Jaune, and especially Weiss."

"Why Jaune?"

"Because you kicked the ever living shit out of him," Travis put bluntly.

Reese facepalmed, "Okay, I'll get up in ten minutes."

"I better come with."

"Why's that?"

"Well one: Pyrrha, two: Ren, three: Nora. Enough said if I do say so myself."

Reese soon got dressed, he still had a small headache from the hangover, he was in his Beacon attire because Pyrrha might magnetize his Mandalorian armor. He took a deep breath and looked to Travis who was in his armor and had XYZ just in case. After given a quick nod Reese knocked on the Team JNPR door. Reese came face to face with Pyrrha, who looked like she wasn't expecting Reese. She stood in the doorway blocking all view of their with a small scowl on her.

"Pyrrha," Reese said, "can I talk to Jaune?"

"Maybe," she was defensive after what Reese did, "but for what?"

"I want to throw him a birthday party," Reese shot back, Pyrrha only gave him a pissed off looked, "sorry, I wanted to apologize to Jaune for the events that happened yesterday."

Pyrrha looked to Travis, who nodded, "Okay," she walked into her room and revealed a slightly bruised Jaune Arc.

Jaune took a look at Reese and almost looked like he was going to punched, "Hey Reese," he said sheepishly, "how's it going?"

"I feel like I have a hangover and I was told I was acting all romantic around Weiss, so overall not great."

"Yeah," Jaune looked down at the bed, he looked disappointed in himself for some reason.

"Jaune I'm sorry for what happened the other day. Apparently Weiss tried to make me some medicine but it ended up being a Love Potion by mistake. From what Travis says it made me fall in love with the first person I laid eyes on."

"Well I guess it's a good thing you didn't see me at first," Jaune and Reese both chuckled at that.

"God no you're ugly," Reese said under his breath.

"What was that?" Jaune asked.

"Nothing!" Reese quickly responded.

"Listen I sort of have to apologize as well. When I heard Weiss ask for help I thought maybe she would want to go out and then you said some things in a weird language and then I got knocked out by you and then I wake up here," Jaune rambled on.

"If you want to go after Weiss, take her, she's all yours."

"What?!" This surprised Jaune, Nora, and Pyrrha but Ren only raised an eyebrow.

"I have no interest in going after Weiss, I hardly doubt she'll let me even talk to her at this point."

Travis remembered some of what Weiss was saying on the way back to their rooms yesterday after the talk with Ozpin. Many things were said that a native of Remnant should not say aloud.

"Well…um…thanks? I guess?" Jaune wasn't sure how to respond. How did you respond to the guy who was under the effects of a Love Potion, insulted you, and then says you can go after the girl who said guy was madly in love for and would fight you for her love?

"Good, now I have to go apologize to Weiss," Reese grumbled with him and Travis walking out of the JNPR room, and right across the hall to their next door neighbors. Oh boy would this be fun.

"Are you sure we have to do this?" Reese asked Travis, his friend only nodded, "Okay, let's do this." He knocked.

"Coming!" The voice of Ruby yelled from behind the door. The door opened revealing the red reaper who looked at Reese and Travis. She looked to Travis who just nodded back at her. "Weiss, someone's here to see you."

The two heard coughing from the far side of the room. "Who is it?" Weiss called out weakly, she sounded awful, and Reese knew why.

"It's me Weiss," Reese said solemnly, he pushed past Ruby ever so slightly so he could see her. Weiss was sitting upright in her bed, her face was flushed red, her eyes looked tired, and her whole body screamed 'weak and fragile'.

Weiss looked to Reese who was standing in the middle of the room. "Hey," she said quietly.

"Hey," he responded.

Travis, from the doorway leaned in next to Ruby, "Perhaps we should leave."

"But what about those two?" Ruby asked concerned after what happened earlier.

"Reese is a calm man, he is also experiencing a hangover from the Love Potion, Weiss could probably be able to take him out even in her weakened state."

"Ok," she said, "hey Weiss, I'm going to get you some tea I'll be back okay?"

"Okay," she said before coughing.

The two left leaving Reese and Weiss alone, Blake and Yang were off to god knows where. "Sooo," Reese said slowly, "how you doing"

"I'm sick, thank you very much," Weiss said before sneezing, she then grabbed a tissue and blew her nose. It sounded like a foghorn went off. "What do you want?" Even when sick she still had the sharp and hard exterior.

"Came to apologise," Reese walked over to the desk, grabbed the chair, and sat directly across from the ill-stricken heiress, "I said a lot of…awful things the other day."

"Creepy is more like it."

"I already feel bad enough Weiss, try not to rub salt in it."

Weiss looked down at her hands, quietly she spoke, "Did you mean any of it?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Did you mean those things you said to me?"

Reese looked back at her with surprise, Travis had mentioned some of the things he said and always cringed at the words he used to describe Weiss and the others. "I-" he tried to find an answer, "I don't know Weiss, I honestly can't remember. Everything's a blur for me." Weiss just kept her face down, "I have a question. Whenever I've seen you get hit on you seem so easy to brush it off. So what happened? Why are you still shaken up about it?"

"You're an idiot," she immediately barked back, but it wasn't really anger in her voice, "yeah, sure it's easy to brush off guys like Jaune all the time, and that's mainly what I deal with, but you were different. A lot. You seem to actually want me, you cared for me, and you showed genuine love for me. So I have to ask. Did. You. Mean. It?"

Reese sighed and looked Weiss with a small smile, but it was forced. "Weiss, I do not currently have, nor did I ever have, feelings for you. It was all caused by that stupid potion."

It was hard to tell if Weiss was relieved, "Okay," she said cryptically.

Reese stood up and pushed the chair in. "I'm sorry for possibly hurting you, I know you were only trying to help me and I can't help but curse myself for what I did. I'm also sorry for getting you sick, if need be just send me a text and I'll be right over to take care of you. Think of it like a punishment for calling you such revolting names." He walked up to the sick heiress and kissed the top of her forehead, "Get well soon Weiss," he said quietly before leaving.

The door closed and Weiss was alone, she almost wanted to cry from the flood of emotions. First was fear, then there was anger, then remorse came, but why was there remorse? Her hands had been folded in on themselves holding something from the Mandalorian and his team. She unfolded them to look at a blue chip with '8GB' printed on top. She wanted to tell Reese about, but for some reason she just couldn't, she tried with all her might to figure out a reason as to why. The more she dug deeper the more she wanted to stop. She eventually got to a point where she could no longer ask herself question because of what she feared.

Weiss was afraid she was falling for Reese.

"Well that was certainly something," Ruby said with her hands behind her head as her and Travis walked down to the kitchen.

"Yes, I thought I saw it all you had on this planet, but I guess I was proven wrong."

"So long as everyone's alright I guess it's fine."

"My sore jaw says otherwise," the two laughed at that, "but on a different note I have something to ask you."

"Yeah sure what is it?" Ruby asked as they entered a kitchen that had a single door, and no windows.

"Blake told me that because you and Yang needed an extra piece of paper to play 'Garbage-Can-Horse' and you ripped the very page that had the medicine Weiss was planning on making for Reese, but ended up making the Love Potion that sent Reese on his little escapade today. Is that true?" Travis' eyes bore into Ruby's sole, for a minute he could probably scare Glynda.

Ruby tried to laugh, "Uh-huh-uh-huh… maybe," she said it ever so silently as she poked her two index fingers together.

"I see," Travis calmly said, he kept silent for a while and once Ruby walked away from the door he walked over and locked it. The only way out was now blocked.

"Travis…" Ruby noticed the knight was standing and blocking the locked door, "what are you doing?"

"Oh not much," he pulled into his uniform pocket and fished out a small book. Originally she couldn't read the spine, but once he folded it open she got a good look. Travis read through some of the pages, "I only feel like you should suffer like I had to with all this crazy romance crap that has been happening in the past few days. Between Brandon and Velvet, Sam and Coco, 'Romeo' and Weiss I only feel it best benefit you to have some of your unanswered questions answered right now." Travis smiled as he opened the book title 'Puberty: The Changes in Our Bodies'.

Ruby fell to her knees and raised her fists in the air. Travis was going to give her 'the talk'.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Travis only smiled more.

"We're going to have a little talk Ruby."

 **Eh, eh, eh. I feel so evil sometimes, not all the time but I chalk that up to being an asshole twenty-three/seven. My god that was a lot of talking. Well that ends this chapter, and with that we will move on to Vol. 2 and all that jazz and soul music. These chapters will probably run more along with the canon story of RWBY, but not always just expect a lot more of them. Anyways, see ya later suckers!**


	13. Chapter 13 Gemstones vs Metal Pt 1

**Author's Note: Wassup bitches it's the author here. This is going to be a combat orientated chapter (WAHHHHH HOOOOOOO). Yeah a chapter in the story that doesn't involve a whole lot of talking, there will still be a bit of talking (probably too much).**

Chapter 13: Best Day Ever/Welcome to Beacon: Gemstones vs. Metal Pt 1.

The lunchroom at Beacon was in a dull roar, despite how every occupant was a teenager, it was quite surprising. Students from Mistral and Vacuo had arrived and Atlas was still to come, fashionably late as ever. Speaking of which (epic segway) Team CFVY headed up by Coco Adel and Team BBRS lead by Brandon Rainwater sat their two teams across one another. Coco was followed by Fox, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi. The team exuded the 'do not mess with us' vibe. Coco was famous for being a badass, Fox could give you a death stare and you would die, Velvet was innocent but could kick (literally) a ton of ass, and Yatsuhashi was…well Yatsuhashi (it speaks for itself). On the other side was the enigmatic Team BBRS. Their leader, seen as a just man who was usually the kindest, Brandon sat across from his…significant other Velvet. Travis, the loudmouthed and often smartest of the group, was reading and flipping through a journal of some sort. Reese, the quiet foil to Travis and the badass Mandalorian, was quietly forking his food mindlessly. The last member Sam, who had the deadly Alto Cannon who was seen as the charismatic one, was sitting across his…whatever it was they were; Coco. Nobody knew how to describe Sam and Coco's relationship. Travis offered 'friends-with-benefits' but Coco nearly attacked him with her purse, a weapon Travis was very much afraid. The earthlings were all surprised to see one of the most crass, unforgiving, and general pain in the ass person in the entirety of two different dimension tremble before a purse. Then again, the purse did transform into a f*****g minigun, so maybe there was some logic in it.

Know what there wasn't logic in? The fact that Team BBRS were a bunch of alie-'extra-dimensionals'. Yes, it was still hard for all of them, not just Team CFVY, to fully grasp the fact that Team BBRS was formed of people who were not from this world, this dimension. But they were so defiant in it. The other two teams, RWBY and JNPR, still had many questions. Many hard, and honestly touchy, questions that didn't need to be answered as of right. Home was still hard to talk about in front of others.

Travis was currently holding a pencil with the book held closely so no one could see it. In it were many hand drawn sketches and blueprints. Travis had gotten the hang of drawing without a computer, though he still missed it. Why couldn't they have figured out 3D printing yet? For heaven's sake they had holographic displays and robots that were way beyond what Home had. The object he was drawing took up a whole page, something not done by the Euphonium player often. It was a large semicircle that had a large hole in the middle. Multiple letters and equations lined the sides, mathematical equations scratched out and erased, with words scribbled. In his messy handwriting were the words 'Dust Powered Technology?', and on phrase they often saw in their most private of moments:

'Never Forget'

Travis felt something soft and small bounce off his forehead grabbing his attention. When he looked up he saw Coco using her spoon as a makeshift catapult to launch her peas at him.

"May I help you?" Travis asked raising on his eyebrows while closing the book with on hand.

"Not really," jeez Coco could be an ass sometimes, "you just looked like you needed to be messed with."

Travis gave Coco a scowl, "I thought messing with you was Sam's job, oh wait I'm sorry, I believe the term is 'screwing' you." Travis smiled as the bigger asshole.

"You want to go?" Coco pulled her spoon back with another pea. The two were about to go into a full blown war by the looks of it .

"Guys," Brandon interjected with Velvet stopping Coco from going any further, "let's not have World War III."

"Well for them it would be the Second Great War," Reese said before taking a spoonful of mash potatoes in. Yeah, they still used a few Earth references here and there.

"You have had two Great Wars?" Yatsu asked, a rare moment for him to ask a question.

"Well they were both fought over seventy years ago, not like we run around today wishing to rip out each other's organs," Travis told the group.

Velvet stared back at the four, "I can't believe you've been here for nearly a whole semester."

The group all looked to the rabbit faunus with curiosity. Brandon turned to his…significant other, "Where did that come from?"

Velvet shook her head, she was in a different world when she said that. Aloud, apparently. "Hmm? Did I say that aloud?"

"Yeah, and honestly, you got too much going for you to be talking to yourself. That's how smart people like you and I end up going a little loopy," Travis joked but not really.

"Now that I think about it," Sam said putting his finger to his chin, "we have been here for a while now."

"Five months, two weeks, and four days," Travis said nonchalantly. This got him stares from all seven others. "What?"

"You've been counting the days you've been here?" Velvet asked.

"Yeah," Travis replied simply. Travis then went a bit solemn in his facial features, "Excuse me." He pushed his food tray away, stood up, and left the lunchroom. He looked like he was in a hurry.

The group took notice of Travis' exit, the Team BBRS kids knew why, but Team CFVY did not. "What was that about?" Coco asked.

Brandon kept his gaze to the shrinking image of Travis' backside and frowned, "We better go talk to him. Come on guys."

Travis sat in the Team BBRS dorm room sitting in his chair. Usually he would be drawing some blueprints or designs for some bygone weapon. But right now he was seated in the middle of the room, the closet that always stayed closed was open. The last time the closet was opened was when Reese told JNPR about their origins. In the closest were maps, their old textbooks, pictures, everything that housed their old lives was stored in here. Everything they once were laid out in front of them in a dingy little closet. Travis rotated his chair slightly from side to side while staring at the contents. Not thinking, not relenting, just thinking. Thinking about what's happened, the changes they have undergone. A little over six months ago they were just regular teenagers. Most of them were worried about grades, getting a job, moving on to college, and maybe dating. Not fighting against creatures that come from storybooks. Not to fight alongside other kids who were the protectors of peace. Not to be a light for others to see in darkness. They weren't meant to be huntsman.

So why was it, that it felt right at times?

Travis was often one to ponder, philosophically speaking, many times he would sit there and ask questions. It usually came off as weird seeing someone question the very foundations of their world, but now it all felt validated. Yet, ever since they arrived, he couldn't ponder, he could never just think about the world and its idiosyncrasies. This world they came to, that they arrived in, was everything and nothing like the one they came from. They could relate but never fully understand. A knock on the door made Travis jump up a tiny bit in his chair.

"Who is it?" He asked, he started walking to the closet to close it. No one had to see the shrine they made, even if they knew the truth.

"It's Brandon," the voice of his team leader came across from the other side, Travis left the closet open after hearing that. The two came face to face, Reese and Sam were behind him. "Hey you doing alright?"

"Oh, yeah," Travis replied acting like a elderly man refusing to take his pills, "just had a moment."

"Yeah we all saw," Reese noted before they all sat down.

"I've just been a lot thinking," Travis said cryptically.

"About what?" Sam asked sitting down on his covers.

"Just stuff," Travis really didn't want to discuss.

"Travis," Brandon said making eye contact with him while propping himself against the wall, "I know when something's eating you. And I don't feel like dealing with a broody Travis while classes start back up. So you best just tell us?"

Travis sighed, Brandon was right, this wouldn't be the best mood to be in while they had to focus on their grades. This wasn't the attitude to be in when they would have to deal with Combat Classes, Oobleck's breakneck speed speech, and Professor Port's long winded 'Tales of Glory'. Not to mention some of their neighbors would take notice and might try to 'cheer him up', something he did not really find enjoyable. "It's just…" he began, "We've been here for nearly half a year, and we're not closer to going home than when we first got to Beacon."

"Still trying to find a way back?" Reese asked, a bit concerned or his teammate.

"Never stopped," Travis said pulling out the small book where he had many plans and ideas. All of them were of how to get home. "I have all these ideas, but they're all science fiction, even in this world. Nothing I can think of could possibly work, I don't know enough about Dust, and even if I did it still would probably never happen. I don't know what to do."

"Well first, you could let us help you," Brandon said before walking over to him. The Trombone player put a hand on Travis' shoulder, "you are not the only person from Earth on this planet Travis. We're here too, and we all want to go Home."

"But we don't know how. We have no clue how travel between dimensions even works, hell, many don't believe in different dimensions back Home. We have virtually no starting point, no base idea of what to go off of, and no experience in this sort of thing."

"Then we'll be the first," Brandon said with a small reassuring smile, "do you remember what Mr. Richards always said?"

"He said many things Brandon, trying to keep track is like herding cats."

"'Before there is inspiration we must create something worth inspiring.' Henry Ford had to create the Model T, Nasa had to design a rocket that would be safe for Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to go to the moon, Nikola Tesla had to deal with Thomas Edison being a giant jerk."

"Don't think the last one really applies there, but go on."

"What I'm saying is we are going to have to be the first to figure out how to get Home. It won't be done for us, and we will be walking blindly into it, Frankly I would prefer that, I think the others back Home would too, and I also think Ozpin would say the same."

"Ozpin?" Travis raised an eyebrow at that, "What does he have to do with anything?"

"Well besides letting us take shelter here until we go Home, you don't find it odd how he's kept a relative closed off relationship with us?" Brandon saw Travis shake his head, "Either he doesn't like us, which I find unlikely, or he wants us to figure our way out of this. Whatever the outcome."

"What do you mean by outcome Brandon?"

"Come on Travis you said it yourself, even if I don't like the fact that it may be true. We don't have a one hundred percent guarantee of ever going Home." At that moment everyone dropped their heads a little bit. "But that doesn't mean we can't, or shouldn't try, to go Home." Brandon was truly a leader. "Whenever we can, we should try to research or test out something. Whether it's Dust, maybe physics, and we should definitely continue our training sessions with Team CFVY. Who knows how long we may be here before we return? We might graduate from Beacon before that day comes."

Travis turned and chuckled. He was clearly in a better mood, "You just want to more spend time with your 'snuggle bunny'."

Brandon blushed, but he was getting pissed off at Travis' consistent pestering about him and Velvet. For that Brandon full on punched Travis across the face.

Travis paused a bit letting his usually headache plagued mind receive the information. He massaged the inside of his cheek with his tongue and grinned a bit. "Ow," was all he said.

"Don't call Velvet a 'snuggle bunny' and you won't get punched," Brandon said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"At least admit that you want to snuggle with your… what do you call her again?"

"I call her 'Velvet', you know like a normal human being."

"Really you don't call her 'sweetie', or 'good-looking', or 'my little piece of carrot cake'? Nothing romantic? Just Velvet?"

"Shouldn't Velvet call Brandon a 'carrot' because she going to ea-" Reese said.

"REESE!" Travis pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand and held to the other to stop him, "I would rather not think about one of my close friends be described as a piece of carrot for Velvet to consume!"

"Please," Brandon added a little disgusted and felt like he was going to throw up.

"What? Travis does it all the time!" Reese shot back.

"That's because it's my thing," Travis said, "for instance Brandon is the strong one, Sam is the charismatic one, and I'm the smart one with a mouth."

"So what am I?"

Travis thought about it for a while. "Reese are you familiar with the 'red shirts' from Star Trek?"

"Aw f**k you, you couldn't even go with Stormtroopers? I am the one who dresses like Boba Fett."

"Stormtroopers at least killed some of those dirty rebels in a New Hope," Travis said (he had always been an Empire man).

"Wow…" Reese was appalled.

"Now if you excuse me, I'm going to get some food, I didn't really eat much back there," Travis made his way to the door and was about to open it. Until…

"Hey uh, Trav?" Sam said stopping him.

"Yes?"

The Saxophonist walked up to him and showed him his Scroll which was playing a video, "That," was all he needed to say.

Travis looked in fear, one of his eyes went wild in disbelief, as he looked on the screen. Apparently Team RWBY and JNPR got into a massive food fight. It was more like a food war, but then again this was Remnant. A planet composed of fighting teenagers and every mechanical device was a gun in some shape or another. Using sausage links as whips, turkeys for gauntlets, celery sticks for… whatever Ren was using them form, baguettes for swords, a s-sw-swordfish for a rapier (seriously why the hell does this school feed their students **FULL** swordfish). It wasn't even cooked, it was just a raw fish lying about. The f**k? The video ended abruptly when a errand pie was flung across the room and straight into the lens on the camera. Travis just stared at the blank scroll for a few seconds, he then took a deep breath.

"You know what? I think I can wait on food for a little bit. My stomach is slowly killing itself so it doesn't have to deal with _that_ in the future."

Beacon Academy was coming into view. Into whose view you ask? Why the view of a couple dozen, maybe about a fifty, Atlas ships.

Wait…

WHAT?!

The central hub point of Beacon Academy, the Tower, came into full view where Ozpin and Miss Goodwitch were standing watching from a window as it all unfolded. Sure the trip was long and you needed a large ship to make the trek across the skies, but was all this really necessary? Did they need smaller transports and frigates? For a festival devoted to peace? Did they? Just-Did they?

"Ironwood certainly loves bringing his work wherever he travels," Glynda growled at the mere sight of the ships.

"Well…" Ozpin usually kept a cool head, "Running an academy and a military makes him a busy man." Ozpin noticed a small group of airships pass by the window before they split off. "But yes, those are a bit of an eyesore." On his desk a request to enter his room, "Come in," he said to the person in the elevator door.

The man who walked in appeared to be in his mid to late forties, if the greying of his black hair was anything to go by. A chiseled chin with a hint of facial hair darkened the lower part of his jawline. He wore a white military uniform with a blue undershirt and red tie (hate to see if he got mustard on it). On his forehead, curiously enough, was some kind of metal apparatus attached to it. He approached Ozpin with open arms, his right hand was covered by a white glove (we got Michael Jackson up in here).

"Ozpin," the man greeted.

"Hello general," Ozpin said a little distant in his tone.

"Please," the two approached each other before shaking hands, he chuckled then spoke, "It's been too long!" He then noticed the second in command of Beacon Academy and couldn't resist, "And Glynda! It has certainly been too long since we last met." (ooh, someone trying to bang Goodwitch!)

Glynda brushed off Ironwood's comment with a bit of bravado in her tone, "Oh James…" she turned to Ozpin, "I'll be outside." Glynda left, the temperature in the room probably dropped a good ten degrees after giving Ironwood the cold metal shoulder.

"Well she hasn't changed a bit," Ironwood said as Glynda left the two headmasters.

"So…What in the world has brought you all the way down from Atlas?" Ozpin asked pouring a cup of coffee, "Headmasters don't typically travel with their students for the Vytal Festival."

Ironwood took the cup with his gloved hand and retracted once he had a good rip on the handle. With his other hand he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a flask to 'liven' up his coffee. "Well you know how much I love Vale this time of year. Besides with you hosting I thought this might be a good opportunity for us to catch up."

Ozpin sat down at his translucent desk while the general stood at the other end. "I can certainly appreciate quality time between two friends, however," Ozpin poured himself some coffee, "the small fleet outside my window has me somewhat concerned."

"Well…Concern is what brought them here."

"I understand travel between kingdoms has become increasingly difficult-"

"Oz," Ironwood interrupted, "you and I both know why I brought those men.

Ozpin did know why, and he didn't like it either. He sighed and took a drink from his mug, "We are in a time of peace. Shows of powers like this are just going to give off the wrong impression."

Ironwood set his mug down and put both hands on the desk, "But what if Qrow said is true-"

Ozpin cut him off, "If what Qrow said is true, then we will handle it tactfully. It's the Vytal Festival. A time to celebrate unity and peace. So, I suggest you not scare people by transporting hundreds of soldiers halfway across the continent."

"I'm just being cautious," the general argued.

"As am I. Which is why we will continue to train the best huntsmen and huntresses we can."

"Believe me, I am," Ironwood made it looked like he was about to walk away, but he stopped just shy after a few steps, "But ask yourself this…Do you honestly believe your children can win a war?" Ironwood began to walk towards the elevator.

"James there is also something else I need to talk to you about," Ozpin said before the general could get away, "something I guarantee that will change the course of our world."

"And what's that Oz?" The Atlasian general was still in a sour mood.

Ozpin let out a small sigh, his hands folded over in one another, "There is group of students who I want you to meet. Their past…is something that will shock you. Even a man of your stature…"

Reese was currently running through the halls of his dorm with a half eaten bagel in his mouth and still buttoning his coat together. _Goddamn alarm clock!_ He cursed in his head. While rounding a corner his eyes weren't able to see the person on the others side and the two collided.

"Oof," he muffled through the bagel as he landed on the floor. He removed the piece of bread from his mouth before finishing it. "Sorry about that," his monotone voice said.

The person he was talking to was a female presumably, if her purple hair and voice had any say in it. They wore a uniform much different than the usual Beacon Academy ones. _Must be an exchange student_. It was a white uniform with an off white coat on top with white skirt on the bottom. _Definitely a girl. At least I hope so._ For some reason the person just kept their back to him, almost afraid to look at him. She was holding something at the time, but Reese couldn't tell what it was. Reese stood up first, and being the gentleman he was, he stretched out a hand to the female student.

"Need a hand?" He asked.

It took her a moment, but finally the girl turned her head. The face looked familiar to him, but he couldn't figure out why. The woman had creamy colored complexion with beautiful hazel eyes which were covered by glasses. Her hair was colored a light purple that had brown colored roots. Aside from her uniform she wore a necklace with an odd looking claw on it. The woman looked incredibly familiar the more Reese looked at her, but he just didn't make any kind of connection.

"Thanks," she said, the voice too was familiar and it this whole conversation was starting to eat him alive. There was an awkward silence before she snapped out of staring back at Reese "Well I got to go," she said before turning around, "you a student?"

"No I'm a janitor," Reese sarcastically female student looked back at Reese with more curiosity, could it be she had the same idea? "Sorry," he said, "I'm a student from Beacon. What about you?"

"I'm from Atlas, we just got here today. I was supposed to meet up with my team but I got lost. You guys really don't know how to use maps do you?"

Reese chuckled, "My friend would agree with you on that." Reese looked down at his scroll and saw he had to get to class soon, "Hey, I hate to leave you like this but I need to get to class. I'll see you around okay?"

"Okay," the woman waved him off before walking away.

Reese made off in a brisk pace to his class, but he kept thinking about her throughout the day and most of his classes. _She seemed so familiar, but nothing rings a bell._ For some reason the color of her hair stuck with him. A shade of purple. _Fushia? No. Violet? Not that either. Lavender! That what it looked like._

"This sucks!" An angry Yang Xiao Long declared in the locker room.

"Well we did trash the lunchroom," Blake said while preparing Gambol Shroud.

"By why isn't JNPR being punished, they started it!" The blonde argued.

"We kicked their butts, so we have to deal with Goodwitch's punishment," Ruby said, a bit too gleefully. After Goodwitch ended the massive foodfight yesterday, even though Ozpin spared them from a cruel fate, the four girls were punished in the form of being forced to spar first in their class. It wasn't really _bad_ conviction, but it wasn't desireable. Especially since students from Atlas were showing up today, they would have to put on their best show.

"Besides," Weiss shot a small glare to her teammate, "you did encourage their behavior."

"Whatever," Yang wasn't pleased by her teammates berating her, "let's just beat the crap out of these guys."

The four girls walked out into the training hall, the largest of them all. It was nearly as large as Amity Coliseum, but it didn't have the various environments to switch in. It was just a flat piece of concrete on the ground in a polygon shape that would anger Travis with how the angles don't make a perfectly measured polygon. They saw in the stands the usual crew. Team JNPR, Team CRDL, and Team BBRS. A few of the other school's teams were there as well, but not many. Sun's team was there along with a few from Vacuo. There were a few Atlas students there, but they weren't required since they just arrived on school grounds, they were given a day to relax after their long journey.

"Welcome everyone," the voice of Glynda Goodwitch said throughout the whole room, "for those of you just now joining us I am Glynda Goodwitch, the head combat instructor at Beacon Academy. We will be doing a Team Fight, a four versus four fight to prepare for the upcoming tournament. Team RWBY has graciously volunteered to be subject to be a part of the first match. This will be a mock tournament match meaning it will have all the same rules as the Vytal Festival tournament." 'Gracious' is a bit of a stretch, "Do we have any volunteers?" No one raised their hands, mainly out of fear for being beat by one of the best first year teams. Team BBRS was just being lazy that day, as well as not wanting to fight their neighbors. Their incredibly spiteful neighbors. "No? Well fine then, we will let chance decide this." She started the randomization process. Multiple teams cycled through like slot machine in Vegas. Who would be the unlucky sons of bitches that would have to fight Team RWBY. The machine stopped on the team in question and-

Oh boy.

This is going to be fun.

"Team BBRS!" Glynda announced, immediately all other eyes turned to the enigmatic Team BBRS. Brandon slowly nodded before standing, Travis sighed and got up from his relaxed position, Reese placed a pistol he had been fidgeting with into its holsters, and Sam gulped nervously.

Their team leader looked to his teammates, "Let's show'em what we can do." The group began walking.

"Yeah," Travis' sarcasm showed itself, "how do you want to die? Death by scythe, incredibly pissy blonde, lectured by a very snippy heiress, or be read smut by Blake?"

"If you keep up with the sarcasm, I can end you hear," Brandon said not caring that it was said aloud.

"You can try, but I'm the better fighter when it comes to weaponry."

"I would very much like to keep the fight focused on the girls," Reese interjected, he placed his helmet over his head and the voice went crackly mid sentence.

"Whatever 'red shirt'," Travis teased.

"F**k you Travis."

"We've already had this conversation before Reese," Travis then smiled, "besides I thought you went after Weiss."

"I thought we agreed never to talk about that," Reese said unpleased he was bringing the 'French Reese' incident.

"Perhaps, but we should probably stop arguing, we need to look like a team in front of the others," Travis explained just as they approached the door to the arena.

Brandon stopped right before opening it, he took a sigh and looked to his friends, "Let's do this."

"No need to be melodramatic Brandon," Travis said.

Brandon laughed before opening the door, "Like you're on to talk."

The two teams stood across from each other, the large and bare concrete field being the space between them. In total it was about the size of a football, maybe a tad shorter, that same distance went the other direction making the polygonal shape even on both ends.

Team RWBY stood on the one end. Ruby unfolded her scythe, Crescent Rose, the deadly weapon creating silence in the room. Myrtenaster's barrel spun for the correct attack to start off the battle. Gambol Shroud was pulled from Blake's back, the blade still hidden in its clever-like sheath that functioned as a secondary weapon. Yang's Ember Celica shifted and stretched across her forearm, the bullets rotating in its revolver-like chamber.

On the other side Brandon's sword, the Grimm Mourne (still sounds better on paper), was thrusted into the ground where he stood. The executioner axe, XYZ, rested on Travis' shoulder while he carried a small smirk on his face. The face of Reese was hidden by his rust colored Mandalorian armor, the helmet's black visor being the only gateway for his eyes. Sam poked a few of the buttons on the Alto Cannon, the knife electromagnets Bari and Soprano sparked electricity as the cannon steadily prepared charged blasts.

Here it was. Time to see if all their training and preparation had finally paid off, all the hard work they had put in, the change in lifestyle that was thrown upon them. The natives of Remnant versus the people of Earth, the huntresses versus the musicians, Team RWBY versus Team BBRS

The gemstones versus the metal.

"Begin!" Glynda yelled.

The match started explosively as Sam took the first step and aimed down the sights of his destructive arm cannon and fired a restrained volley at the four. He knelt down slightly and closed one eye hearing the symphony of electricity trickle through the blades. From the white barrel came a bolt of energy, the sound reminding one of strumming a guitar loudly. The blue bolt of energy sailed the distance at a breakneck speed towards the four girls. The four girls either stepped to the side, jumped, or ducked beneath the bolt as it sailed. Ruby, who had ducked, took this immediate time to burst off in a flurry of rose petals. Her speed Semblance raced faster than Sam's blast of energy to the group across the bare concrete. Seeing this Brandon shot a glance to the heavily armored Travis and nodded, Travis nodded back to him. Time to fight these girls with physics. Judging the imminent arrival of Ruby, and naturally Crescent Rose, Travis shifted his axe onto his left shoulder still holding it loosely. Just as Ruby was going to reach Team BBRS Travis took two running steps before planting his dominant foot down and lowering his right shoulder. The approach Travis took surprised Ruby and messed up her timing and soon she collided with the green knight's armor Travis wore. The feeling of a heavily armored shoulder lodge itself in her stomach, Ruby couldn't help but cough a tiny amount and stop in her tracks. Taking this opportunity and advantage Travis gripped his axe tightly and swung straight down once Ruby fell off his shoulder. XYZ came at Ruby in a wild arc approaching from the left and going to the right. With barely enough time all she could do was bring up Crescent Rose to soften the blow, but not by much. The velocity of XYZ approaching a fully stopped Ruby Rose meant that all the transferred moment and force went directly into Ruby's form. The blow sent the reaper flying off to the side. But Ruby was not so easily beaten. She slammed the bladed tip into the ground tearing up the concrete in the process, but it slow her momentum. While she was still reeling back she fired multiple shots from the compact rifle that the oversized gardening tool carried. After having many practice sessions with Coco doing the whole 'Matrix-blocking and Deflecting-bullets' was not as much of a challenge, he was always a quick learner. The bullets were of a larger caliber and were more difficult to deflect. Travis was hit by one of the bullets, the shot hitting him in the armored shoulder, it didn't hurt but the force sent him back a little. He barred his teeth, but then grinned a little. _Well at least they ain't going easy on us._

While those two were off fighting Reese leaped off the air using his jetpack to gain serious air and momentum. The rust colored speeding bullet pulled out his two pistols converging the two into their rifle form, something he had gotten better at the longer they spent their time on Remnant. Aiming down the iron sights he fired multiple shots of the red energy that his 'laser' weapons carried. The three other girls meanwhile dodged at the shots, they were easily avoided due to Reese's altitude which gave them plenty of time. However it appeared to be a distraction as Weiss' instincts kicked in as the english greatsword Brandon wielded came into view smacking her Aura. The tallest and strongest of Team BBRS ducked underneath a swipe from Gambol Shroud as Blake tried to protect her teammate, it was surprising to see someone of Brandon's stature be as maneuverable as he was. They didn't get to marvel long as the sound of loud deafening noise enveloped their ears, and the sight of seeing Sam coming straight at Blake. With his right arm, the arm without the cannon, he threw an accelerated punch knocking Blake back, but her Semblance activated summoning a clone to take the hit. This allowed her to get back on her feet without too many repercussions, except that it allowed Sam to aim a shot at her. Yang was about to step in but something grabbed her her left arm. She turned to see Reese, still with his pack ignited grabbing onto her and then flying off at a tremendous velocity.

"Hands off," Yang surprisingly kept a cool head when in the heat of battle, it was one of her more desirable traits as a fighter. She grabbed Reese right hand and tried to pry it off. After doing that Reese changed the trajectory of his flying and went straight up.

"You want off?" He asked, his scratchy radio voice could still be heard with sarcasm, "So be it."

Reese let go of Yang and let her fall down. While dropping in the air Yang fired multiple shots from Ember Celica, the fiery blasts looking more like fireworks. Reese weaved in and out of these projectiles like a insect avoiding a fly swatter. Sometimes it would look like the bullets would simply curve around his body. Yang was plummeting towards the ground swiftly and she knew that, the blonde turned her body to prepare to land. However, she unknowingly gave Reese an opportunity for some style points. Reese raced off after Yang, they were about thirty feet off the ground, he was getting closer, twenty five feet, he silenced his jetpack the flames disappearing, twenty feet, he was a few feet from Yang now. Yang only then noticed that Reese was right behind her, she could see her face reflected in the black visor. She was about to turn around when Reese slammed his right foot into her back, the shock and force of the blow knocking her senseless for a little bit. That 'little bit' was enough time as the two collided with the ground, well more like Yang collided with the ground. Reese rode on the back of Yang like skateboard, or a blonde surfboard in this case. The ground tearing and creating a small crater, the cracks were numerous but not disastrous either. The two slid on the ground for some time before Reese rocketed off in the direction of where Sam and Blake were fighting. Using his opponent's back he jumped off of Yang which pushed more of her into the ground, and raced off to assist Sam.

The Saxophonist fired off a shot from the Alto Cannon at Blake's feet. The blast scorching the ground a blasting Blake backwards. What the faunus didn't see coming was a pair of knives lunging straight towards her. Blake blocked Soprano and ducked beneath Bari and managed to connect a hit. The hilt of Gambol Shroud hit Sam in the cheek making him take a step back from the attack. Blake then delivered two slashes across Sam's back in a tilted and offcentered 'x' pattern. Blake shifted her weapon into the weird scythe-blade amalgamation with a pistol and ribbon. She chucked the gun at Sam using the shot to accelerate towards the younger teen. The black ribbon wrapped around his waist before she pulled on the other end of the ribbon which tugged Sam forward. He struggled to get out of his confines but to no avail, Sam felt his feet slipping and soon he fell to the floor. He fidgeted his arms to try and unwrap the ribbon around his waist but he had to focus as Blake pulled on it harder and Sam was pulled from the ground. Blake was about to kick him in the stomach, but something grabbed the ribbon. It caused both Sam and Blake to be pulled into the direction the interloper was going. Reese held the ribbon in his two hands and pulled especially hard on the end Blake was on. He turned his back and flipped the ribbon around with an overhead swing. The cat faunus was flung in the air unceremoniously while Sam was able to get free of the ribbon. Blake smashed her body into the ground, but it wasn't as painful as getting the brunt force of the Alto Cannon's energy blast. The blue energy collided with her stomach creating a louder, more deafening, sound that swallowed the air. Sam brought up the barrel of the Alto Cannon and pointing it back to the sky. Reese put a hand to his shoulder.

"Go deal with Yang," Reese said.

"You sure?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, if this is a practice fight for the tournament then it should have the same rules."

"Which means?"

"They have a 'ring out' rule. Get Yang out of the arena, she's eliminated from the match."

"Sounds good, sounds easy."

"You're fighting Yang, you do realize that?"

"…f**k."

Weiss Schnee brought forth her family glyph, the snowflake pattern contrasting against the grey concrete floor. From it a pillar of ice shot up, but it was quickly cut down by the Grimm Mourne shattering into tiny pieces. Brandon charged the heiress his sword pointed at her while he lowered his shoulders. The Trombone player connected with Weiss' rapier and the two blades recoiled back. However, Brandon was the first to recover and used the lower grip to swing the sword in a massive arc going upward. The silver blade of the sword just barely missed Weiss' head and she used the opportunity to her advantage. She jabbed the pointed tip of her blade at Brandon who was forced to take the hits, one by one he was stabbed by Myrtenaster feeling his Ara under constant assault. Weiss used a glyph to increase her speed tenfold, but Brandon swung the Grimm Mourne back around, the blade was on a collision course. Weiss felt the english longsword hit her in the chest stopping her in her tracks. Brandon, being the high school wrestler he used to be, stabbed the sword into the ground and picked up Weiss before suplexing her into the ground. The crowd all winced at that one. Brandon pulled his blade out of the ground while Weiss got back up, she was visibly angry now as the barrel of Myrtenaster spun again. This time she took the initiative lunging at Brandon with a speed glyph. Brandon did a quick two handed swing downward to cut off Weiss, but the heiress jumped up before the blade struck. The lunge and stab could be felt in his shoulder as Weiss managed to get a good hit. Brandon staggered with the hit and Weiss took more of the advantage. Using one of her glyphs for proper footing she stopped mid air behind the Team BBRS leader. She spun her body like a drill bit getting a decisive hit on the larger foe making him take a knee and support himself with his sword. To her surprise, Brandon wasn't done just yet. From the ground he grabbed his sword with just his right hand and spun in a circle right there. The blade swept Weiss off her feet, but before she landed Weiss received a massive uppercut swing from Brandon. Weiss picked herself up from the ground shortly using one of her almighty glyphs, the two then started to circle each other as if in some kind of dance of death. Brandon held his blade with both hands as he charged, both on the two different grips separated by the crossguard. These strikes were more precise, more reserved than the wild swings from earlier putting Weiss in a more comfortable position. For years she trained with instructors who taught her in the ways when your opponent was not a drunken madman who just swung about wildly. The two began an epic back and forth match. When one went in for a stab it got bounced off by another, every errand swing punished accordingly. It wasn't until she heard something whirring that she back off, but not before Brandon got one more swing in. The swing hit her rapier out of her hand, no it was wrenched out of her hand. When Weiss looked to Brandon she saw the Grimm Mourne's blade was spinning rapidly, almost like a demented drill bit.

"You like?" He asked pointing the spinning blade at her. Oh boy was he smug.

Yang was pissed, incredibly so, and poor Sam had to deal with that. Her eyes flashed red and her hair caught fire, or it at least ignited. The first thing she saw when getting off the ground was Sam running towards her, a perfect victim. She fired multiple shots at the young Mr. Perish in her rage, the bullets steaming with heat. Sam was able to dodge one, the other just barely missed his nose as he contorted to avoid it. The other two hit him in his arm and the chest. He landed back on his two feet as the shots knocked a bit of wind out of him. When he looked back at Yang she was just a mere few feet at him, Sam could see the very distinct tinge of red in her eyes. Quickly pulling out the two knives he was able to have one of Yang's gauntlets slide off the knife and fire into the air. Sam grabbed her other hand just in time to avoid the shot. Before Yang could retaliate Sam was able to kick the blonde in the stomach knocking her away. Sam slid the two knives back into the cannon and fired three shots. The first landed right at her feet, but Yang had sidestepped before it got to her. The second was ducked under. The third, however, Yang got pissed and fired shot after shot at the blue energy. The once blue energy now was mixed with the fire, corrupted beyond belief with the color of orange. A massive explosion ensued as smoke followed, a corrupted version of the usual blast sounded off with a very weird sound. From the smoke Yang came jumping out, a fist raised above her head as she gave a battle cry. Sam quickly pulled out one his blades and arched his back and arm. Flipping the white knife so the tip of it was comfortably between his index finger and thumb he threw the knife at Yang. The white blade coming right at her, all she could was avert her head to one side. Yang landed, not attacking Sam as she felt something, she looked to the wall where the knife had embedded itself in. Pierced between the wall and the knife was a small lock of hair, a lock of _blonde_ hair, a lock of _Yang's_ hair. As if she couldn't be any more angry she looked at Sam who felt like he was about to shrink into fear.

"You…" she looked at Sam, thinking about how to kill him, "…you monster!"

Yang raced to Sam he couldn't get a block up in time, not that it would've mattered mind you. The first punch slammed across his left cheek, the next hit the right cheek, a third plummeted on the top of his head. Yang threw a kick to Sam's right and used Ember Celica to accelerate her elbow into his gut. She raised her right fist and brought it down on Sam's face again forcing him to kneel. She stomped on the ground, Sam could swear he saw it ripple for a minute, and immediately felt everything in his face shoot up. Yang had uppercutted him right in the chin sending him up in the air. Stepping behind him before he fell back down to the ground, Yang reeled back a punch before releasing a wicked blow to his back sending him into the wall. A buzzer sound went off shortly after.

"Samuel Perish has been eliminated!" Glynda announced. Team RWBY now had the upper hand.

At that moment the three remaining Team BBRS members all turned to the now alone Yang, fury in their hearts, revenge in their minds. Simultaneously they were able to disengage from their fight. Brandon was able to throw Weiss back a ways. Travis smacked Ruby in the noggin forcing her to nurse it while Travis ran off. Reese had gotten away after igniting himself with his Semblance to force Blake back. The three converged on the blonde brawler who slammed her two gauntlets together, accepting the challenge. Brandon reached her first swiping at her legs but getting a face full of Ember Celica instead. Before she could get to Brandon, Travis surprised her from the side smashing her right side with XYZ, the blade wrecking her Aura levels. You could see a large dip in her Aura meters on the screen. Travis and the others had to think of some way to get rid of Yang, she proved too strong to beat in a head on fight, but possibly they could think of something else. Something…psychological.

 _Well, she was going to find out eventually._ Travis gained a devilish smile as relaxed when he saw Yang getting back up, Ruby and Weiss would be coming so he had to make this fast. He gave a nod to Reese and held up a few fingers, Reese nodded as he knew what it meant. "Hey Yang," he calmly greeted while resting on the shaft of the axe.

"What's up?" She was confused by the sudden change in atmosphere from him.

"Oh not much, me and Ruby had quite the interesting talk last night."

Yang didn't like the sound of that, Travis was always planning something it seemed like, "About what?"

"Well after you and her basically caused the whole 'French Reese' thing last night I only thought it be necessary to answer some of her questions about love, friendship,…how we reproduce."

"You WHAT?!" The air around Yang exploded in fire.

Travis remained remarkably calm through it all, "Yeah, gave she seemed relatively understanding of the whole thing. I mean she just about fainted when I mentioned how the pituitary gland 'had big plans'." Travis could see Yang visibly shake and tremble, it made his sometimes sadistic heart overjoyed. "If you want I can lend you the book I used, or perhaps you could read her one of Blake's smut books. Unless I need to tell you about the birds and the bees as wel-"

"SHUT UP!" Yang launched at Travis, aiming to remove his head off.

 _Gotch._ "Reese now!"

While Yang could not see it at first, when she was in the air she noticed something reflect in the light, it was thin, almost…wiry. She then turned her head to see the Mandalorian standing at one end with his arm outstretched, the same arm that had a tow cable in his gauntlet. She knew what they had done when she felt something thin wrap around her stomach. The tow cable wrapped around her like a lasso and clip to itself shortly before Reese activated his jetpack at maximum power. The ground beneath being scorched under its intense heat before Reese sprinted and jumped into the air, Yang forced to follow him. Reese raced across the arena using the weight of his hitchhiker to his advantage. He took a sharp turn to the left and Yang's body whipped into the wall creating cracks that made them all wince. Ruby caught wind of this and bursted after Reese and her sister, but more importantly her sister (no one cared for Reese). Seeing this Reese did a full one-eighty turn so he was facing the oncoming rose petals. Because of this, Yang went flying behind Reese as he disconnected the tow cable. Yang went skidding off the ground and eventually outside the arena. A second buzzer went off.

"Yang Xiao-Long has been eliminated due to ring out!"

Yang was visibly angry. One: she got forcibly removed from the battlefield, not losing the conventional way. And two: Travis was going to pay for what he did to Ruby.

Ruby was still coming towards Reese using her Semblance to full on tackle him at this point, but Reese didn't want that. Just before Ruby was going to collide with him, the Mandalorian merely sidestepped far enough to avoid Ruby and her scythe. He fired two shots from his pistols at Ruby which made her scatter in different directions allowing him and his two teammates to regroup. Team RWBY, minus the 'Y', decided to do the same.

"Well that was fancy," Brandon said to them.

"We need to stack the odds in our favor," Travis told the two, we won't succeed if we keep going back and forth like this.

"Well what do you suppose we do? Not like we can just summon a fourth person," Reese argued. Travis gave him a smug look, Reese knew what Travis was thinking, "Travis, no."

"Why not?" The Euphonium player pouted.

"Because you fainted last time."

"After it left may I mind you, I was completely fine during the fight.

Reese knew there was no arguing with him on this, "Ugh, fine, what do you need?"

"A few seconds, maybe ten at most."

"We'll try," Brandon said bringing up his sword, "but we make no promises."

"Wouldn't expect you to. Now go and kick some f*****g ass."

"Will do," Reese said before flying off.

"Learn to curb the language Travis," Brandon warned before leaving teammate.

"But it's a part of my charm," Travis said to his now lonesome self. Now alone he began to focus on his open left palm, his head winced and twitched as he felt the headache that was constantly in his head get worse. He felt an odd feeling in his stomach before vanishing which got him pissed. He smacked the side of his head twice in annoyance, "Accursed thing." Finally the feeling came back and Travis could see a light blue glow reflected on his axe. He looked to his palm and saw a soul-like wisp floating in his hand. The pain grew greater, and greater. But a certain team took notice of this.

"What's Travis doing?" Weiss said to her two teammates while blocking a blow from Brandon's sword.

"I don't know," Ruby replied, "want me to find out?"

Weiss exhaled for a few seconds, "Alright just be quick, who knows what he has planned."

Ruby ran off, but not before Brandon slammed his sword across Crescent Rose firmly planting it to the ground. "Going somewhere?" Brandon asked. He was about to swing again until Weiss managed to get in with a few stabs relieving the pressure off her scythe. Once again Ruby sped off like a bullet trying to reach Travis before whatever it was he was trying to do. She was about to reach him, she was a few feet away. At the same time Travis' brain was screaming for relief, it pounded, and nearly put him in an unconscious state if it were not for the one thing he was focusing on for relief. Ruby was about to connect with Travis until…

" _ **Heed my call!"**_

Ruby's arm was grabbed by a glowing blue fist. She looked to what had just grabbed her as the whole arena, audience included, went dead silent. Ruby was staring face to face with a weird looking creature. It's body was rigid with blue mist steaming off it. One of its arm was a large rifle that made Crescent Rose a tad small, its other arm was a regular hand with two rectangular devices on it. Despite it only being a few inches taller than Travis, the thing looked infinitely stronger. It's domed head looked directly into Ruby's soul as it lifted her up and chucked her across the field. All eyes were on the thing Travis was right next to, the soul flame and glowing eyes matching the same shade of blue as the thing.

"Blake, Reese, you should remember this." Travis appeared to be more coherent that last time he used his Semblance to summon something so intricate, "People of Remnant! Feast your eyes on my construct, my summon, my comrade of my subconscious. The Victor!." The Victor saluted with two fingers, much like how Travis would from time to time.

"Damn," was all Brandon could say, "that's pretty bitchin'."

This was going to be a wild ride…

 **Annnnnnnd cliffhanger! I know how much you people are probably hating me right now, but if I were to write out the rest of this chapter then it would be ginormous and would seem like it would never end. So I decided to cut it off at one of the big climactic moments: the reappearance of the Victor Battlemech. Next chapter will be the conclusion of the fight…and something special.**


	14. Chapter 14: Gemstones vs Metal Pt 2

**Author's Note: Wassup bitches? What do we have here? A quick (about two of three days earlier) update! I know, I'm so excited (squeals like a little girl)! The main reason as to why we have a sudden update is because I already had have the chapter written up, but I had to make it a two parter. So when I started I already had half a chapter. Still didn't stop me from making this full of BS (when do I ever).**

Chapter 14: Best Day Ever/Welcome to Beacon: Gemstones vs. Metal Pt 2.

Well that certainly surprised everyone. Ruby wasn't really sure what to do when she finally got herself out of the way of being shot at. The three members of Team RWBY, minus Yang who had been eliminated, regrouped. Their opponents, Team BBRS without Sam who taken a wild couple of punches, stood at the very end. However there were some differences that needed to be discuss. Namely Travis' eyes were glowing bright blue, he held a soul-like flame in his palm, and there was a freaking mech on his side. The mech, apparently Travis could summon things, was created from his Semblance. The construct took slow, lumbering footsteps until it stood behind the team of earthlings. The light blue creation contrasted greatly with the green armored knight, the rust colored Mandalorian, and the brown and black warrior. Everyone in the audience went into a quiet hush seeing the intricate creation. No one had seen Team BBRS use their Semblance, it was just one of the many things that added to their mystery. Some assumed they hadn't found their Semblances, and they would be right in the case of Brandon, but this proved them wrong. Travis gave a light chuckle, the wisp in his hand disappeared when he grabbed his axe with both of his hands.

"Let's have some fun shall we?" He asked, not directed at anyone in particular.

From overhead the Victor leaped and sprinted at the three girls who all looked to each other for an answer as what to do. They would not have much time to think so they all took aim at the light blue being and fired their respective weapons. Bullets and energy collided with the construct, but it was not working, the Victor just merely ran right past it slamming its shoulder into Weiss' smaller frame. While its right shoulder was still bashing Weiss the mech quickly aimed the rifle it had for an arm right at Ruby Rose. If she weren't in the heat of battle she might've swooned over it, but not when the nose of the barrel stared at her in the face. Making use of her Semblance Ruby zipped out of the way before the mech fired off a shot. The ground beneath fractured as a blue energy was released from the barrel sending bits of concrete everywhere. When Ruby got to her feet she cocked a bullet in place and aimed her scythe behind her. She fired her weapon sending her flying at the blue summon. She went in to slash across the chest but the blade seemed to pass right through its body, like an apparition. The mech's head turned to Ruby, the lumbering creature locked its rifle arm at a ninety degree angle parallel with the ground. From behind it, though, several icicles sprouted from the ground eventually reaching the Victor. When the tip of the icicle reached the mech it stopped before being thrusted forward onto all fours. Something even happened to Travis who took a wary step. When he summoned the Victor last time it appeared nothing could harm it. Perhaps he was mistaken, not that you could really blame him, he had only summoned it once. A scientific endeavor always requires multiple tests.

After seeing that the construct was not truly invincible, to Travis' dismay, Team BBRS stepped back into the fight. Before Blake could get Ruby out of there Travis threw XYZ just in front of her making her pause. When she turned to see Travis, the Euphonium player delivered a punch to her cheek, the ambush triggered her Semblance and the copy fell to the ground while she managed to jump back. Reese slammed the ground with his fist after narrowly missing Weiss. With a pistol in his other hand he fired off two quick shots to get her away. Weiss avoided them using a speed glyph skating out of the way before coming back around stabbing Reese's Aura off to his side. He got back to his feet with a growl, he was getting a little…heated. Weiss twirled in place then stabbed the ground with Myrtenaster summoning a line of icicles. Reese let the anger and heat overtake him allowing his whole body to be wrapped in flames. The flaming entity then flew in the air with his jetpack.

The two bipolar elements collided, steam hissed in the air as Reese melted through the line of ice stalagmites. Weiss tried to summon a second wave of ice but couldn't due to Reese's flaming body landing a punch on her face. Reese charged Weiss when he landed and all Weiss could do was wait for a good opportunity. The main issue was Reese barely showed any unsafe moves, and when he did they were so quickly recovered Weiss couldn't punish his mistakes. The heiress made a wild choice and longed just as Reese threw a left hook, the two traded blows but Reese went farther back. Weiss took that and leaped in the air bringing the blade down on Reese's head. The Mandalorian moved out of the way slightly and grabbed Weiss' hand, his arm losing the flames (he wasn't going to be that much of a jerk) as he latched onto her arm. Pulling her arm over Reese jabbed a flaming elbow into Weiss' chest followed by him releasing Weiss and kicking her in the stomach. Weiss skidded to a halt and brought up her blade just eye level before dashing off. Reese prepared then aimed a kick in the air spinning counterclockwise, but he missed. The worst part was the Percussionist overcommitted and left himself open, and Weiss was always one to punish. Several strikes landed all over Reese's body as he was sent in multiple directions before the blade sent him in a new direction. Weiss jumped right above Reese and then brought the blade down right on his dome covered head. A small chip flew off the flaming Mandalorian's helmet, if there wasn't fire surrounding him you could see the faintest amount of uncolored grey. Reese looked at the chip, then to Weiss, back to the chip.

"Okay," the scratchy voice said, he silenced the flames returning his body to the normal rust colored amor. He pulled out the two pistols and clicked one over the other. Weiss fully expected the two pistols to transform into the rifle, but she would be proven wrong. After combining the two he flicked his hand along the bottom of it and the two guns shifted in a cylindrical shape. It looked like a telescoping baton, one that a security guard would use to but more deadly. This theory was proven right as the baton sparked with electricity. Weiss would have to learn an important lesson: just like Yang's hair, you don't f**k with Reese's armor. You can scratch it and scuff it, he won't mind too much, but to chip it or permanently damage it? You have to pay for that. He flipped the shock baton in his hand showing his proficiency with how easy it appeared to be wielded and pointed it to Weiss.

"Now I'm pissed off."

Brandon and Ruby collided with one another, small sparks flying off the two blades. The claw of Crescent Rose almost pierced Brandon;s face had it not been for the Grimm Mourne. With the claw in a perfect position Ruby tried to pull it out of Brandon's hand. The Trombone player decided to let go of the right side of his sword so the scythe harmlessly slid off. The sudden ease screwed with Ruby's hard grip which made her falter. Brandon took a step forward and swung the blade around in an arc so the blade hit overhead and it smashed into her shoulders. He kept up his assault by sending the pommel of his hilt into Ruby's face which stunned her. From there Brandon activated the motors inside the Grimm Mourne making the blade spin. The whirring blade created a small wind around, it was a little refreshing to have a small breeze right next to him since he had broken a sweat a while ago. He gripped his blade on the two different hilts separated by its crossguard and went in for a stab at Ruby. The red huntress took the hit reeling back even more but then used the backwards momentum to switch her scythe into the compact rifle form. She fired shot after shot at the swordsman who was able to dodge out of the way, but since it was an open field he was forced to take a few shots. When Ruby was forced to reload Brandon seized the opportunity, the blade of the Grimm Mourne stopped spinning and locked back in place.

From the circular pommel at the bottom of the hilt a faint white line shined down the whole blade. When it reached the tip the blade then split apart, right down the middle, making two swords. Ruby only saw it when Brandon swung both the new blades down on Ruby knocking her to the side. He held one half in a defensive position while the other was in a regular position. Ruby switched back to her scythe and the two traded multiple strikes, although Ruby was getting the upper hand. Because Brandon split his blade in two, it meant that the half attacking Ruby was much lighter than the heavy Crescent Rose. With each blow Brandon was forced to take steps back and adopt a more defensive ideology. Crescent Rose came down from above like dive bombing airplane, this forced Brandon to hold the scythe in an 'x' shape with his two blades. He planted his foot down and gave a roar as he pushed up on the scythe launching it back up. Ruby's smaller form had trouble controlling the wild movement her weapon was forced to follow which gave Brandon plenty of time. The two blades were swung in different slices and strike making Ruby quickly calculate the arcs hoping to dodge them all. With his right he swung at an awkward angle while the blade went skyward, the blade veering off center. The left blade was parallel with the ground as he swung it at the young girl. Looking at the options Ruby just decided to aim Crescent Rose at the ground and fire. The red clad huntress when into the air before the two blades could converge on her. She then aimed, but not at Brandon, the tip of the blade before she sped into a fight where her teammate was fighting a losing two versus one battle with an axe wielder and a glowing blue mech.

Blake hit the ground, hard, after being slammed down by the Victor's right hand. She had to roll out of the way just before Travis could strike with the axe. The ground where she just was melted as XYZ's blade was superheated with the Fire Dust stored within it. She got back to her feet avoiding an errand punch from the Victor's rifle arm. She went to attack it, but her weapon just phased through it.

How are we supposed to beat this thing?! She asked herself while blocking a blow from XYZ, the construct then launched her after kicking her with one its hefty legs. The mech fired multiple shoots from its rifle, Blake was able to avoid each shot by summoning a clone before running off faster than the mech could turn its body. She threw Gambol Shroud in its pistol form hoping to connect with Travis, but instead the mech grabbed it before it reached its destination. So it can either phase through physical objects or interact with them. What can it not do? The Victor looked like it was about to pull when Ruby Rose ambushed Travis from behind knocking him down. The Victor froze in place looking like it was startled. This made Blake more curious.

"Ruby!" She yelled to her teammate, "Hit Travis again!" The mech seemed to get itself resituated and was about to pull Blake in using her own ribbon. Ruby complied with Blake's request and once Travis over extended on a swing she retaliated by slashing across his chest. The Victor froze in place again each time Ruby managed to hit the axe wielder, which with his bulky armor was easier than one would think. That's it! His Victor can't operate when he takes a hit! Blake ran to aid Ruby, but only to be stopped by Brandon. She wrenched on her weapon and once Travis got hit again the Victor released the gun straight into Brandon's jaw.

The two earthlings were now back to back, both were getting tired and breathing heavily. Neither one of them thought how Reese was doing with Weiss, Travis half expected them to be making out by now.

"Well this is a fine mess we're in," Travis said, Brandon would sometimes look at his glowing eyes.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Brandon said putting his two blades back into the original Grimm Mourne form.

"Got a plan of attack?"

"Yeah: Attack."

"Seriously, we're going to paraphrase the Avengers?"

"Is there an issue with that?"

"No, just, you couldn't quote one of the Hulk's lines? He has some of the best."

"I'm not an angry person, that's you."

"Fair enough."

Weiss made a mental note: never tick off Reese again. There was a certain ferocity in his strikes now. That was also another thing she had to keep in mind after today's events: Team BBRS always seems to have a trick up their sleeve. Between Travis' Semblance showing its face, to Reese and his shock baton, she had a point there. Speaking of shock batons, Weiss blocked a blow by matching Reese's velocity in his swing redirecting his new weapon to the sky. From there Weiss jabbed her blade at him multiple times in the chest which got Reese angry. Deciding not to use the baton this time he used the same hand to clock Weiss in the side of the head, a real ruffian move, then he activated the electricity capabilities and swung the baton hitting the opposite side of her face. The side of her face felt a little numb, it was known that elemental attacks had a tendency to pierce Aura easier that just physical attacks. The two weapons made contact once more only this time Reese eased off the pressure having her fall forward. She practically ran forward and when she was behind Reese, the man struck her in the small of her back. Weiss picked herself up and started to spin the chamber of Myrtenaster. But before she could she saw Reese racing towards her, his jetpack ignited. Weiss tried to get a attack in but Reese angled his body slightly and picked Weiss in the sky.

For whatever reason Weiss felt a little comfortable in this position, if she struggled then Reese might've dropped her, and his armor was still warm from the fire that engulfed him. She shifted herself slightly in his warm embra- Wait! What am I thinking?! This is a battle! And he's the opponent! Weiss shook her head trying to get those thoughts out. Unfortunately Reese wasn't thinking like that, he was focused on the battle.

The flying warrior twisted his body and the two were going to plummet in the ground. Weiss, not wanting a concussion, summoned an icicle that forced Reese to avert his path to the side. Weiss then broke free, a bit begrudgingly, of Reese's hold and landed on the ground. She had to take a few steps before completely stopping. When she saw Reese she saw him rocketing towards her again, but this time he was surrounded by flames. Weiss was about to change the type of Dust for her blade but noticed a small nick in the chamber. The chamber was starting to spew out red colored Dust with each move, and since Weiss had been in the air, there was a lot of it now. For some reason she remembered bad things when that type of Dust was left in the air. Her mind went back to the first time she met Ruby, where Weiss lectured her team leader, and also when a vial of red Dust was slightly ajar leading to a-

Oh boy.

And Reese was on fir-

This is going to be fun.

Weiss hoped she could spread some of the Dust a bit farther before Reese got to her, maybe create the reaction before it would hit her. There wasn't time though, and Reese was showing no signs of stopping. She would just have to hope for the best. The Schnee stood her ground as the flaming spaceman came at her, he had not seen the trap. As he got closer Weiss braced herself as she knew what was coming, Reese never saw it. The Dust reacted with the flames Reese was coated in and they all ignited, a large explosion ensued. Weiss went flying out of the smoke by the force of the blast, Reese was sent the opposite direction. Weiss landed outside of the arena, able to stop herself but not before she left the boundaries. Reese, had it a bit rougher, because he was flying at the time he was lifted into the ceiling crashing into it, then falling onto the ground. A lot of people winced at that one. Two loud buzzers sounded off shortly after.

"We have a double knockout!" The Combat Instructor, Glynda Goodwitch, announced, "Reese Martins has been eliminated due to Aura levels, and Weiss Schnee is eliminated for Aura levels and for ring out!"

Weiss somewhat coughed as she saw the collapsed form of Reese try to get himself up, but ultimately fail. She swore she could've heard him say 'Ow' through his radio, but her ears were still ringing from the explosion.

The rest of the fighters sort of stopped right there when they heard the explosion, even the Victor got a good look, but the final four combatants continued. Ruby jumped over a swing from XYZ and fired multiple shots from Crescent Rose which were blocked by the Victor who stepped in. Blake went in to strike Travis casing the Victor to freeze up once again. Out of frustration Travis swung the axe several times around his body smashing into Blake. The superheated blade stinging her sides when she was batted away like an insect. Brandon got right in her face and jutted his knee into her form knocking her back again. The Victor, wanting a bit of revenge, ran up and was about to smash her face with the rifle arm. Blake braced for the impact, but nothing happened, she thought maybe Ruby may've hit Travis. And she would be right as Travis recovered from a nasty attack from Crescent Rose, but something happened to the Victor. It tried to attack again but when it was about to make contact the arm phased right through Blake's body. It was a bit jarring to see something pass right through you and then see that thing's body blink rapidly. Blake turned to Travis who looked physically worn out, the lights in his eyes were flickering like mad, the soul-like flame had returned but had shrunken to a much smaller size.

"Brandon," Travis said quietly, the swordsman turned to his partner a little worried. The lights in Travis' eyes were now completely gone revealing his natural blue colored eyes. The Victor then splintered off into multiple pieces before vanishing into the air in a dust like motif. "I think I'm gonna take a nap now," his words were a little slurred and he stumbled a bit too, "sorry about failing ya in this fight." Travis full on fainted way before he made it to the ground, perhaps it was for the better. He probably just fainted from the fatigue of using his Semblance for a long period of time, this was only the second time he had successfully summoned the Victor. The same loud buzzer went off.

"Travis Basco has been eliminated!"

Brandon Rainwater now stood alone against Blake and Ruby. With a small sigh he hefted his blade close to his shoulder and the blade pointing straight up. The gleaming silver blade of the Grimm Mourne became an oversized drill bit once again, the light reflected off the spinning surface. Blake went in first, she look worried for Travis, but a reassuring nod from Brandon resolved her fears. Blake pulled her blade into two separate pieces revealing the true blade of Gambol Shroud and the cleaver-like sheath. Brandon blocked multiple blows from all angles using the armor he had on his arms to cover his exposed side.

"Ladybug!" He heard Ruby shout.

Ladybug? The hell does that mean? Brandon asked himself, he shortly found out though. Ruby placed Crescent Rose behind her back and fired a shot so she could clothesline Brandon, but he blocked the hit. Blake came in from the other side slashing at his backside. A bit pissed off Brandon grabbed Blake by the collar and slammed her down, he then made for a stomp but was stopped by Ruby jumping on his backside. Rule Three of Wrestling: Never get on an opponent's back, the high school wrestler said to himself before grabbing Ruby by her hood and throwing her down with Blake. He raised the sword above them and brought it down on the two. Ruby used her Semblance to pick up Blake so the two didn't get skewered like fish, the blade ripped pieces of concrete as it stabbed the ground.

"Ready to finish this?" Ruby asked her teammate.

"Sure thing," the cat faunus replied.

Brandon pulled his sword out of the ground, it wasn't as majestic as Excalibur but nothing ever will. Let's end this, Brandon thought, fully knowing the outcome.

Blake got on top of Ruby's backside and she fired off a shot which accelerated the young Belladonna. Brandon pulled up his blade so it split his face right down the middle and gritted his teeth as Blake approached. He raised the Grimm Mourne in the air, but what Blake did surprised him. She stretched out her ribbon and wrapped his appendages in an uncomfortable configuration. The last of Team BBRS tried to break free but the ribbon was too strong and he ended up dropping his blade, it landed with a loud *clang*. Ruby came in shortly, Crescent Rose pointed right at his face. Brandon closed his eyes and prepared for what was going to be a very painful blow. He felt the rush of rose petals whizz past his face but the hit never came, he opened one eye and came face to face with the barrel part of the deadly scythe. A smug look on her face as she stood ready to blow off Brandon's head. Yet, there was something else in the smile too, it almost appeared honest.

"Nice job," the leader of Team RWBY said, the lights coming back on. She look proud of them which made Brandon smile back at her.

Blake eased the uncomfortable wrap her ribbon had on Brandon and he sighed a bit in relief while nursing his wrist. "Thanks," he told the cat faunus.

"No problem."

From the side Glynda Goodwitch came walking in, "And that's the match," she typed a few things in her scroll before looking to RWBY, "wonderful job Miss Rose, if you work on your team coordination then you should have no problem qualifying for the tournament." Glynda then turned to the last standing member of Team BBRS, "It would probably be best to work on your team coordination as well. Team RWBY has several maneuvers pre-planned for whatever the field of battle may hold. If you keep that up you might have a shot at getting in the tournament as well."

"Thanks for the advice," Brandon was completely sincere about the comment, "it's appreciated."

Glynda appeared to be happy about that, she then frowned and looked to Travis, "And it may be wise for Travis not to exert himself so far, it could cost him more than just fainting in the field of battle."

"Well to be fair, this was only his second time actually summoning the Victor, anything else and he's fine. He didn't know how to gauge himself. But I do agree, we'll have a talk when he wakes." Brandon bent down and grabbed the armored student. Dang, all this armor makes him weigh a bit.

Pain. A lot of pain. An excruciatingly amount of pain. That's what Travis felt as he felt consciousness come back to him. His head was throbbing, it felt like he was one of Reese's percussion instruments. It felt like he just woke up from a hangover, not that Travis would know about that stuff or anything, he placed a hand on his temple making small rotations. He groaned as he heard the door creak open. The sound magnified in his current state.

"Well look who is up," the voice that was unmistakably Brandon said, his voice sounded like he was screaming into a microphone.

Travis rolled over slightly to protect at least one of his ears. "What do you want?" Travis said in a whiny tone, a tad justified.

"I just came in to see how you were doing," his team leader replied, "you had us worrying for bit."

"Well, sorry for making you worry," Travis was not in a good mood and his voice reflected it, "now if you excuse me I'm going to get some sle-"

"Travis is awake!" A high pitched shriek nearly tore Travis' head in two.

The entirety of Team RWBY and JNPR came running in surrounding Travis' bed in the- Wait a minute. Where was he? Oh, good he was in his room. He breathed a sigh of relief he might've been in a hospital. God knows the amount of questions he would get from the doctors. Still a pounding in his head ripped him from his thoughts as he once again massaged his forehead.

"Could you please keep the noise to a minimum. I'm currently experiencing what is akin to a hangover."

"We'll try," he heard Jaune say, "but you guys were so cool."

"Yeah!" Ruby yelled once again. Travis winced at the sound of her high pitched squeal and slightly whimpered, something they had never seen the axe wielder do. "Sorry," she quietly spoke.

"Soo Travis?" Weiss said, "What was that 'thing'?"

"The Victor?" Travis sat up slightly in the usually unused bed, "It's a mech from an old franchise I loved back home."

"Okay," Weiss wanted more on the subject," we were hoping for a more in-depth explanation. Like about your Semblance."

"Well it is a good question, I don't fully understand it either," this made them all curious, "from what I understand my Semblance allows me to summon various objects from my mind. However it appears to be only mechanical objects."

"So like robots and things?" Ruby asked scratching her head like a childhood.

"Partially, mechanical objects can be anything that moves without the need of biological sustenance such as air, water, food. For instance I can summon a motorcycle I designed last year in my CAD classes."

"So then why'd you faint?" This was Pyrrha who was talking, "It seems like you have a pretty good understanding of it."

Travis scratched his chin. "The Victor is a bit of a different case than a simple creation such as a motorcycle or pencil. When I summon the Victor is appears to take on sentients, it can think and move on its own. However, it comes at a small cost. Everything that is summoned is using my mind to make all the calculations on how it works. The strength of the metal, the speed of the actuators, the angle for optimum efficiency. There all being done in my mind. Then you add the Victor which requires all those things and more taking what little brain power you have left, it uses my subconscious to operate. I'm using two parts of my brain when I should only be using one, I mentally don't have the fortitude right now to keep it going for long periods of time."

"Then why did you do it if you knew it would do such a thing?" Weiss snipped at the young earthling.

"Well for one, this was the second time I've ever successfully summoned the Victor, all other attempts were met with the same result: fainting and Coco drawing fake mustaches on me in sharpie. Two: I really wanted to beat your asses." Travis appeared to be better now, if his swearing was anything to go by. "By the way, how'd you fare?"

"What do you think?" Brandon deadpanned.

"I don't know maybe you discovered your Semblance last minute and did a heroic last stand beating the ever living shit out of Ruby and Blake."

"No, not that at all, I got beaten like two minutes after you passed out."

"Oh. Well that's disappointing."

"They have trained most of their entire lives and we've only been doing this whole thing for half a year. I think we should proud of ourselves for how well we did."

"Oh definitely, we put on quite the show for everyone. By the way, where are Reese and Sam?"

As if on cue, the other two members of Team BBRS entered the already crowded room, still in their combat attire but Reese had removed his now chipped helmet. "Hey good to see you're up," the Mandalorian noted, "Ozpin wants to talk to us ASAP."

"Ozpin?" Both Brandon and Travis questioned.

"I don't know," Reese threw his hands up, "Goodwitch just told us to get over to the tower."

"Okay, we'll be down shortly," he turned to the two teams native to Remnant, "sorry but it looks like we will have to cut this conversation short."

The two teams grumbled before leaving, Yang though turned around and made the iconic 'I'm watching you' motion with her two fingers. Perhaps she remembered what Travis had told her, about ruining Ruby's innocence. Dread crept through his body. If Remnant did have a god, then Travis was praying to it.

The four members of Team BBRS all piled into the elevator, not much was said as they all jerked up when the metal confine moved up. The low hum being the only thing heard while they all stood quiet. They were silent because none of them knew why Ozpin wanted to talk to them they never really did outside of the first few weeks because of questions that needed answering. After that though, Ozpin played a restrained role acting as if the earthlings were like any other student. It was nice knowing that they weren't given special treatment even if it meant they never conversed outside of the usual greeting. They were all nervous in reality. What could Ozpin want, that he wouldn't have his assistant say to them. A lot actually. Despite the fact that Teams JNPR and RWBY knew of their origins, it was best not to discuss it aloud, out of fear someone else might hear it. You can only give the same speech a few times before it gets tiresome. The bell sounded off with a *ding* and they all sighed, internally or externally.

Let's see what Ozpin wants from us, Brandon thought as the doors opened.

The four earthlings saw the sun and clouds behind the green garbed figure Ozpin, the headmaster was sitting on his desk. There was a second person in the room, this one they did not recognize. He turned to them holding his arms behind his back, it reminded them of a militaristic pose. The man was clothed in a white jacket, he gave off a weird vibe that Brandon and Travis didn't like.

"Welcome Team BBRS," Ozpin greeted and motioned his hand to have them come closer, "why don't you come in?" The four walked in, they were all a bit wary to do so, "Mister Basco, it is good to see you back on your feet so soon."

"Thanks Ozpin," the summoner said, a bit of ice in his tone he pointed to the second man in the room, "who's this?"

"I am General Ironwood," the general said in a tone that exuded strength, "Headmaster of Atlas Academy. Please to make your acquaintance."

The entirety of Team BBRS all gave each other odd looks, as if they were confused. Brandon raised a finger to pose a question. "You're part of the military?"

"James is the general of Atlas, while being the headmaster of its academy," Ozpin explained.

This only got more questioning, almost worrying, looks. Brandon kept questioning, "Isn't that a potential conflict of interest?"

"I beg your pardon?" Ironwood asked.

"Well, if you run the military isn't in your best interest to keep the huntsman and huntresses that go to your academy, that you also run by the way, to improve your own military strength. Hypothetically weakening the rest of the kingdoms since you steal a fourth of the potential huntsman and place them into the military?"

Ironwood looked to Ozpin, somewhat surprised by the response. Ozpin sort of shrugged, "Told you they were smarter than they appeared."

Travis raised a curious eyebrow, "And what pray tell, did you tell this man from the military?"

"I am aware that you are from an alternate world," Ironwood put simply. Being the trained soldier and leader, Ironwood knew how to read people, and he could tell the air turned hostile real fast. The one called Travis could be heard cracking all of his fingers and knuckles one hand at a time trying not to be noticed. Brandon, the team leader and the one who questioned, narrowed his brow and kept a neutral but aggressive expression. Reese, the odd one with the odd armor, slowly reached for one of his pistols slowly but didn't make any sudden movements. The last one Sam just took a single step back angling his body slightly almost preparing for a fight. Ironwood thought it would be better to explain himself now. "I have been aware of the world called 'Earth' for some time now."

"And how's that?" Travis asked, his tone was implying something sinister, "Did you create an interdimensional portal generator where you attacked our Home? Perhaps you kidnapped people from our universe? Maybe you were the one who brought us here?!" Even though he had passed out in the fight, his eyes were glowing a faint blue barely noticeable if you weren't looking directly at him.

"Mister Basco," Ozpin said snapping Travis out of his rant, and removing the blue tint in his eyes, "I can assure that James has never done anything of the sort."

"Well then I would definitely like to hear this," Travis still had a sneer.

General Ironwood brought up his scroll and called one of his soldiers, "Bring them up," was all he said before ending the call. He looked to the angry teenagers, then sighed, "Almost half a year ago we received an anomaly from one of our outposts. We originally thought it was a weapons test from the White Fang so we went fully expecting a fight. I sent one of my best specialist to scout out what we were up against, but by the time they got there the place was deserted. The only thing they found was a frozen automobile that didn't match anything we had previously designed or created. They fuel system and specifications, along with the tech inside puzzled our top scientists. That was until we report from a nearby village that a group of four people had just shown up, with nothing to their name." Ironwood noticed Travis eased up in his stance, he now relaxed and crossed both his arms. It appeared he understood where the general was going, "When we tracked them down we somehow got engaged in an argument where the White Fang got involved. Thinking they had been double crossed a three way firefight ensued."

Ironwood shook his head in disbelief, "Surprisingly two of them could shoot just as good as my men. When the fight was over we…took them in…for questioning. I personally met with them and asked them many questions, mainly about where they came from. The answer was always the same, 'Earth'." The elevator door went off again, Ironwood nodded to Ozpin.

"Come in."

Team BBRS turned their bodies to see who was in the doorway, Travis was almost half afraid to see if his suspicion was correct. From the elevator came four teenagers, in Atlas Academy Uniforms, once they saw Team BBRS they went wide eyed. The two teams were in a staring contest fueled by disbelief.

How? Travis asked himself. Just, how?! How could they be here?!

"May I introduce you to Team KKLF (pronounced 'clef'). From the last to the first letter we have Franklin Apple, Lavender Bessette, Kylie Payne, and leading the team is Kendra Raven." He was more or less saying it to only Ozpin as the two teams were still staring at each other.

There they were, the others in the second car the day of the explosion, they were their friends, perhaps the only ones who understood their position. Here was Team KKLF; Kendra, Kylie, Lavender, and Franklin. They were attending Atlas doing the same exact thing as Team BBRS, but more importantly they were alive. The first one to move was the Team KKLF leader, Kendra, and she ran up and hugged Sam tightly.

"Sam," Kendra was practically in tears, her usually quiet voice choking on sobs, "is it really you?"

Kendra Raven was senior in the band, one of the better Clarinet players. Instead of the typical Clarinet she played what was known as the E Flat Clarinet or, if you asked anyone in the band, the 'Devil's Instrument'. While she was quiet, you could always know she made a mistake in her music because she gave the loudest groans. She had a thin body, akin to Weiss in many ways. Kendra had a freckled face and had an inch or two on Sam. Since no one in Earth had crazy hair colors, she just had brown hair that was in a ponytail that lead to her shoulders. Her eyes were blue, a dull blue, not like Travis' which made the sky pale in comparison.

Sam was in shock, they all were, but him especially. He just gave a small sincere smile and hugged Kendra back, "Yeah it's me cuz, good to see you."

"Cuz?" Ironwood said.

"Those two are cousins," Brandon explained, which got a small nod from the two headmasters.

Travis suddenly felt a heavy palm slap on his shoulder, "Oh god," he breathed out in pain.

"Ha, ha!" The only male in the team said, "Travis! How've you been?"

Travis looked at Franklin, motherf*****g, Apple. A junior, and a pretty decent Trumpet player. This meant he had the personality of a Trumpet player; loud, outgoing, sometimes annoying if not always, and a general pain. How Travis could deal with him was a mystery to the entire band. He was had flat brown hair with a pair of black rimmed glasses covering his brown eyes. In terms of his body, he looked pretty average when it came to a school training teenagers but he was a little on the pudgy side. It was probably him being around five foot seven instead of six feet like most males at Beacon, or in this case Atlas. As said earlier no one really knew how someone as loud and bashful could get on the good side of Travis Basco, easily one of the most temperamental people in the whole school. It still is, even travis doesn't fully understand it.

"Good to see you too Franklin," Travis in droll sarcastic voice.

"Well I see you haven't changed much," the Trumpet player shot back.

"When do I ever?" Travis asked with a small bow.

Brandon turned to the general/headmaster. "Thank you for keeping our friends safe." Ironwood nodded. "If it is alright with you, I think it would be best if we took our conversation elsewhere. You probably don't want to hear us ask a thousand questions to each other."

"I don'-" Ironwood began.

Ozpin stood up, "Of course Mister Rainwater," Ironwood shot Ozpin a small, but noticeable glance, "we'll see you tomorrow."

"Thank you," Brandon spoke for all of them on that.

The moment they were out of the elevator Kendra squealed, which made them all jump in the air. No one thought it was possible for Kendra to make that kind of sound, Reese and Travis were both a little freaked out.

"I can't believe it!" She yelled swallowing her cousin and Brandon in a hug.

"Oh god can't breathe," Sam barely managed to get out.

"What happened to you guys?" They turned to the third female in the team, or the 'L', Lavender Bessette.

Lavender Bessette was a junior, and a flute player in the band. As Reese got a better look at her, it hit his head that she was the one he bumped into this morning. Why didn't he recognize her? Seems like a pretty good question since seeing a friend from Earth would be a big f*****g deal. Well for one it had been nearly six months and their minds had been elsewhere, two he never got a good look at her face, third her usually brown hair had been colored purple. It appeared she had taken the whole 'we have crazy hair colors because why the f**k not' thing to heart. And seeing as how she was named 'Lavender' it only seemed fitting. If there were an equivalent to a personality in Remnant it would have to be Yang. A cocky attitude, smugness, and not to mention the teasing. In fact you could probably switch the two's bodies, color their hair, and it would almost be impossible to tell a difference, well Lavender would have to start wearing contacts but that isn't the point

"Last we saw you were ahead of us on the freeway."

Travis stepped forward to explain. "When Brandon saw the car about to hit the tanker we all made a beeline to get the hell away. The explosion happened a few seconds later and we wake up, somewhat separated, in a forest in Vale. Thankfully, we were found by a team of students on a mission. We were brought to Beacon and Ozpin offered us seats at this lucrative establishment. That's been our lives for the past six months, what about you?"

"Pretty much the same," Franklin explained, "except for we landed in Atlas, we nearly got convicted, we met an Atlasian Specialist with a surprisingly short temper, after telling the General he thought it would be best to admit us into the academy, he says it's to keep an eye on us but I think he wants to see how we stacked up." Apparently arrogance was another feature of Franklin's personality.

"Sure," Travis deadpanned while giving his three teammates a glance.

"What?" Kendra asked noticing Travis' not so subtle glance.

"There are some things we have with the general," Reese said.

"Like what?" Lavender said, a bit shocked by their statement, "The General took care of us, gave us a second chance. What reason could you possibly think of to not trust him?"

"How about the fact that he basically violates a line of church-and-state?" Brandon offered, "The guy runs the military, the strongest military at that too, and runs an academy that trains warriors. Seems a little suspicious if you ask me."

"Brandon," Kendra said, she seemed remarkably understanding of Brandon's assumption, "from one team leader to another, I can assure you that General Ironwood is not what you're thinking. He is not a corrupt man trying to control the whole kingdom. Sure he can seem cold and distant, but after you get to know him like we do, you can see he's fine. He appeared to be understanding and believed us, it took a while, especially what happened with Kylie-" Kendra's eyes widened once she realized what she said. Kylie's head shot down, and her two teammates gave Kendra a damning look.

Each member of Team BBRS immediately raised suspicion upon seeing that, and they all turned a bit defensive. If one of the bastards that slither on the ground here in Remnant hurt one of their own, blood would be spilt. "Kylie," Brandon said, "what happened?"

The second 'K' of Team KKLF was Kylie Payne. She too, like Kendra, Brandon, and Travis was a senior member in the band. A Clarinet player, a regular Clarinet not the Devil's Instrument, who was like Sam in her passion for music. She was easily one of the many heartthrobs for a ton of the guys back Home, her golden hair kept just past her shoulders caught many males by the mouth. However despite her beauty and talent, not only in music but in gymnastics, she was one of the most humble and kind people many would ever meet. She even managed to get on Travis' good side and crack a few laughs with him. Her usually bright gaze was hidden, her golden locks hiding her usually blue eyes, a soothing blue beanie covered the top of her head.

"Kylie," this was Travis, his tone was stern but sincere, "you can tell us. You're among friends here and we promise that whatever happened we will not judge you for it."

Kylie sniffled, this only added worry to all of Team BBRS, she breathed before looking up slightly, she looked like someone had kicked her in the stomach. The pain in her eyes made them all assume the worst. Kylie reached for her hat, they were all curious about it but just thought it was just a fashion choice, Kylie was like a toned down Coco in some ways. Her hat fell to one side as she looked them, almost ashamed, her head hunched over while they all stood shocked. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. On top of Kylie's head were two short, dog ears. The outer side fur was colored the same blonde while the inside was colored brown.

Kylie Payne was a faunus.

They were all thrown for a loop. The first reaction they all had was different, Travis kept his internally just because of the mad ramblings to try and explain how a phenomenon could occur. Kylie was from Earth, not Remnant, their planet had no faunus, he was about to say something but Reese stepped in.

"Okay," he simply said, he just stood there smiling as if nothing happened.

"What?" Kylie asked surprised by Reese comment, "You're just oka-"

"So you have dog ears," Reese interrupted, he then shrugged, "does that change the Kylie Payne who we knew back Home? Does it change who you are now? " He didn't wait for Kylie to respond, "No matter what anyone from this world says about you, you are still the girl who we've all made friends with. In fact, I kind of like them, I think they complete you."

Kylie was shocked, as were the others. That was such a mature approach to the situation, Blake would definitely be proud by it. Travis sighed and laughed at the same time, "Why don't we go to one of our rooms and have a nice chat? I've been dying to ask a few questions about Atlas?"

"Okay," Kendra said not opposed at all, "should we head to your room?"

"Umm," Brandon intervened, "maybe that's not a good idea."

"Why not?" Lavender asked as they started to walk.

"Let's just say our neighbors may know a bit about us, and I don't think you would like to answer all their questions. Why don't we go to your guys' room?"

"Sure, sounds good," Kendra agreed, and they led the ways to their dorm that was so graciously with the rest of the visiting students. Kendra realized something Brandon had mentioned, "Wait. What do you mean some of your neighbors know some stuff?"

Travis chuckled a little, "Why don't I handle this?" Travis didn't wait for any objections, "You see it all started when I first called the Deputy Headmistress a 'broad'…"

-Back in the Tower with Ironwood and Ozpin-

"Why'd you let them go off like that?" Ironwood wasn't angry at Ozpin, but he wasn't pleased by just having four students he didn't know walk out with Team KKLF. He wanted to keep them safe at all times.

"James," Ozpin turned in his chair, "you have to keep in mind that these eight students of our two academies are not like most, or any for that matter. They come from a different way of life, a different culture, a whole other world very different from ours. They have been through perhaps the greatest hardship I can think. They are alone. No one else in this world will ever truly know what that is like, it's not like they can waltz into an establishment and connect with our people. So when they see someone from their Home, you could see the craving for camaraderie in their eyes. We must let them be who they are if they are ever to connect in this unforgiving world. They have been through much more than any of us will ever know and keeping them constrained will only harm that. As much as we would both like to think otherwise, they are still children, they are no older than our students. So let them play the part, I guarantee it will not be one they get to play for long."

"I just want to keep them safe," Ironwood said.

"As do I, but nothing good will come of it if we don't let them adapt to Remnant's way of life."

"Believe me I'm not trying to do that, they have made strides after they got over the initial shock of being here," Ironwood began to walk out of the door, but he remembered something from earlier, "Ozpin, you never answered my questioned. Do you think you're children, and not only that but these children, can fight a war?" Ironwood left to let Ozpin to ponder on the question.

He had his answer, he always had an answer to that questioned.

"I hope they never have to."

It was quiet and peaceful in the visiting students dormitory.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Except for that.

The boisterous amount of laughter came from the Atlas Academy floor, the second floor of the building. The room was 234, the room assigned to Team KKLF, which now had four extra occupants. Team BBRS and Team KKLF, newly reunited were sitting about the room in various positions. Travis claimed the chair because he was Travis, and an asshole (if that wasn't already obvious).

"Wait," Franklin had to take a small breather to collect yourself, "you gave this Yang chick a steak layered in gravy to get back at her?!"

"Yeah," Travis said calmly before the Team KKLF kids starting laughing, Team BBRS simply chuckled, "I mean she stole my notes, not to mention she kept flirting with me."

"Hold up," Lavender said, "she flirted with you?"

"Yes, why do you sound surprised?"

"Well you're you," Lavender explain.

"Oh wow," Travis appeared hurt by that, "f**k you."

"Well glad to see you still swear like a sailor."

Travis gave thumbs up, "You can never take that away, even in this world."

They all laughed at Travis' bravado. Franklin then spoke, "So Reese I noticed something about you."

"What?" The Percussionist asked.

"Why are you dressed like Boba Fett?" Everyone looked at Reese, his helmet off to the side.

"Oh that's easy," he stood up, "because why the f**k not?" He put his helmet on completing the ensemble which changed his voice, "Plus I look like a badass."

"Wasn't disagreeing with you there," the Trumpet player defended, "just wondering why you didn't got for a Jedi instead?"

"Uhh, duh," Travis interrupted smacking his own head, "because the bounty hunters and the Empire are way cooler than the Rebel scum."

"Hey," Franklin pointed a finger at his Euphonium playing friend, "them's fighting words."

"Okay," Brandon stood up breaking the potential war between Empires and Rebels, "it's been nice to catch up, but we should probably get going. It's getting late."

They all looked to the open window and were shocked to see it was already dark. "Yeah, probably a good idea since we still have classes tomorrow," Kendra nodded.

"And some of us got our shit kicked in," Reese snorted.

"You do realize RWBY is one of the better first year teams," Sam argued.

"Yeah, and we did manage to take out two of their teammates, not to mention the damage we did to the other two before I got eliminated," Travis decided to leave out the whole 'fainting' part just because he would undoubtedly raise more questions then he was willing to answer at this late time.

"It's good to know that you guys are alive," Kendra said, "you have no idea how much of a burden is lifted off of all of us."

"Don't worry we were thinking the same about you," Brandon said as he opened the door.

Reese left after Brandon giving a quick salute, Sam pulled Kendra in for a hug that warmed all their hearts, and Travis was the last to leave. "If you need anything, let us know." He closed the door after that and sighed. He looked to the other members of his team and appeared to be dumbfounded. "Well I'm still shocked."

"Yep," was all Reese said.

"Tell me about it," Sam said in disbelief, "I'm just glad she's safe."

"And apparently a team leader," Brandon added, "they're in the exact same position as us."

"Just with a more militaristic approach it would seem," Travis quickly quipped.

"That doesn't bother me too much," Brandon surprised the trio with that, he had been so vehement about Ironwood's position that it made him look like an opponent. He felt like he had to prove them wrong, "I may not like General Ironwood's approach to how he runs his academy but if he protected our friends, then he has my highest respects."

"A good perspective to have," Travis noted, "if Atlas is the world leader in technology then I imagine it be best to be on his good side, if he finds a way Home for us."

"I thought you wanted us to do that ourselves?" Sam asked as they walked down the halls.

"I never explicitly said that, it just appears that Ozpin was going to take a hands off approach with our current predicament. This Ironwood character seems more proactive, he might want us to go back Home just as much as we do."

"Let's hope," Reese said which they all nodded to.

They walked down the stairs back onto the ground level, they turned into a corner where Travis accidently bumped into somebody. "My apologies," the knight said offering a hand. The person he said was from a visiting academy, they were female. They wore a black blazer with a checkered skirt. Obviously a female, she had mint green hair and red eyes.

She looked and grabbed Travis' hand where he lifted them up, "Thanks," the girl said. Travis noticed a male with grey hair wearing the same uniform just with pants instead of a skirt (that would be scarring) walk in from the other side.

"Jeez," the grey hair kid quipped, his sarcasm almost Travis proud, "can't go ten feet without running into someone can you?" The girl sneered and shot a glance to the teen.

"Where you guys from?" Travis completely disregarded the rising hostility.

"We're from Haven," a third, calming, almost seductive voice said from the other side. From the other side came a beautiful woman, who looked almost too old to be in an academy. She had jet black hair that cascaded past her amber eyes that could shine for miles. A small, dark smile across her lips gave Travis pause. Something seemed off about her was his conclusion.

"Oh, I think they're on the top floor," Travis said pointing with his thumb, "again sorry about that. Wasn't watching where I was going." Travis then locked eyes with the girl with amber eyes, something in her expression made Travis shiver, but he also got a weird feeling in his gut. He didn't like this feeling and he needed to get out of there. Now. "Well then good night to you and welcome to Beacon." He left the group of three and regrouped with his ragtag group of idiots.

"Where the hell were you?" Reese asked.

Travis stared off into space thinking about that one girl, he just couldn't shake her. His mind brought him back to reality. "Huh, what? Oh, sorry I was just thinking about something."

"Like what?" Sam said with a scoff.

Travis brought a hand to his chin, "Not important," he said with a stern tone, "just a weird encounter."

"Should we be worried?" Brandon questioned.

"No, I doubt I'll see her again."

The group then walked down the rest of the way back to their room. Brandon then picked up his head as a thought found its way into his brain. "Wait, _her_?"

 **-**  
 **And there we have it. There is a second group of band students wandering around Remnant. We will get more into them soon, like within the next few chapters because I just introduced them. As always hope you enjoyed, always a pleasure when it does. Anyways, see ya later suckers.**


	15. Chapter 15: Travis Needs to Learn

**Author's Note: Wassup bitches? We have a new chapter for you today (as if you couldn't already tell) which will have a bit more focus on the newly introduced Team KKLF and dealing with more Team BBRS crap. I admit this a primarily talking chapter, not my favorite to write, but it has its moments.**  
 **-**

Chapter 15: Travis Needs to Learn to Keep His Mouth Shut

Cinder Fall hated Beacon, she hated everything in Beacon, she hated the people in Beacon, she hated- oh you get the point already she hates things! It's her shtick. Was she thrilled about having to come here? No. But in order for her plan to succeed she would have to infiltrate Beacon for what she desired. She desired power, to be feared, to become strong. All she had do was complete her task.

Even if it required some of the most mind numbing work imaginable. The amount of time they would have to wait was infuriating, but what can you do. She could incinerate any obstacle that stood in her past, except evaluating who was a threat and who wasn't. When you think about it, she could do that, but she didn't want a few charred bodies leading to her discovery. It was quite easy actually, infiltrating Beacon. Who would have guessed a school made to train warriors couldn't figure out there was a traitor in their midst. It made her smile as she scrolled through the seemingly endless amount of teams and students. They could never compare to her, they didn't stand a chance to her might, no one could even imagine the power she wields. Yet they go about their business as if nothing is wrong, as if they are all friends willing to work together for the good of Remnant. What fools. The lot of them.

"What about this one?" She heard a bored Mercury throw out. He was lying on the floor doing the same as she was. Evaluating, "Team CRDL. They look pretty stupid."

Cinder scrolled through the list arriving at Team CRDL. She frowned looking through their report. They were awful in terms of combat, their behavior would not doubt anger some of their associates, and not to mention they would only listen to Cinder because of her charm. She was looking for a subordinate who would listen for the actually agreeing with their plan. It was probably impossible to find anyone who might go along with them. Why did they need this? Easy. Many hands make light work. She simply told him to keep looking. Mercury always listened to her, even if it had some grumbling involved. She flicked through the files once again. Maybe she should take a rest? No, she wanted this done now. An image graced her eyesight that felt familiar to her. Cinder didn't know why, but the face rang a bell. Then she remembered, it was the boy who ran into her the other day. He had one of those faces that stuck with you. Mindlessly, she opened is, and his team's file.

For the first time in a long while, Cinder Fall was surprised. It wasn't their strength or anything superficial, it was their origins or the lack thereof. There was nothing on them, not a single thing, nothing to connect the dots. They had no history, no previous Combat School experience, no previous jobs, no felonies or crimes, not even a statement on where they came from. It's almost as if they just appeared one day. What a silly thought, she laughed off. Everyone came from somewhere, that was always true. Everyone had a history, it's what made them who they are. But somehow these kids, these fools, had nothing? This intrigued her and the bios only added more to her intrigue. Brandon Rainwater, the leader, was seen as the dependable one who gave advice and appeared to be a voice of reason. Sam Perish was gifted with charisma and a deadly weapon that curiously reminded Cinder of a stolen blueprint that the White Fang lost long ago. Jeffrey 'Reese' Martins appeared to have grand delusion if he dressed the way he did in battle. The armor looked like something from the military, but none that she knew of, and it didn't appear experimental if he was parading it around. Travis Basco, the one she came face to face yesterday, was the smart one by the looks of it. He was hotheaded as well, and he had tendency to use some of the worst words in the known language were marked too. Cinder smirked with that arrogance she demanded, and earned, this action was noticed by Mercury and Emerald.

"Is something wrong ma'am?" Emerald asked.

"No," Cinder said, "but I may have found a possible target."

-&-&-&-

A team of Atlas kids sat in the cafeteria along with most of their classmates from Atlas. This team was Team KKLF, some of the most reclusive in all of Atlas Academy. The main difference from what happened with Team BBRS here in Beacon was that most didn't really care. It was true that Atlas was more rigid and militaristic in form, so not many people asked questions. It was nice not having to explain where they came from. None of them could really describe Home, not sure if they wanted to either. They wanted to remain secret their entire time here in Remnant, much to Franklin's dismay. He thought it would be easier to go about if they didn't have to cover their tracks or make a ridiculous claim about their life. He was easily outvoted by his three female teammates, who all threatened to do awful things to him if he let it slip. Didn't mean that it got out, just once though. Kendra sighed, she knew they would have to talk to them about the others. Still, Kendra was so excited to see her friends again, especially Sam. He was her cousin, relative, as her parents put it: 'her responsibility'. Now she wouldn't have to worry about him, too much. They were still in a school made to train warriors to fight the creatures of evil.

That still was a bit hard to chew, the whole 'fighting the creatures of evil'. When General Ironwood told them that tidbit Franklin nearly died laughing, then Ironwood nearly killed Franklin. A small part of Kendra wanted Franklin to die, but Brandon and the others would probably start a war, and with Travis on their side they might've destroyed the world in doing so. What was even more hard to believe that in this world, this crazy and batshit world, their friends were on it too. Plus, they were doing the same exact thing as what she and her team were doing. Not only that but they seemed to have a handle on it. Reese was Boba Fett, Travis was a knight, Brandon was already a competent fighter due to wrestling, and Sam had an arm cannon. The last one didn't sit well with Kendra because Travis said that the 'Alto Cannon', she rolled her eyes at the awful name, had flung him across the room. The fact that her cousin had a weapon with enough recoil to send him into a wall didn't sit right with her. However Sam reassured her that everything was fine. Kendra gave a 'hmph' thinking about it, then took a bite out of her food.

"Hey," she heard her teammate Franklin say. She swore he must have smoked a crap ton of marijuana all the time because his voice always sounded stone, "shouldn't we hang out with Brandon and the others?"

They had gotten used to sitting by themselves, they didn't think to join their friends. Kendra felt pretty stupid by not noticing. "Sure thing," she tried to play it off, "sounds good."

The group of four band students walked around the cafeteria to find the other group of four band students. They found them after the dog ears hidden under Kylie's blue beanie caught wind of some laughing that was familiar. Brandon had a very distinct laughter. "Follow me," Kylie said leading the group to hopefully where Team BBRS was. They were correct in saying so after finding their friends from another world seated near the edge of the room talking with another team. Only Kendra and Kylie were surprised by this. What surprised them the most was that there was a rabbit faunus fairly close to Brandon's side.

Kendra sat next to Reese who jumped up at the sudden sound of her tray of food hitting the table. "Mind if we join you?" She coyly asked.

"Do you have to ask?" Reese shot back, the amount of sarcasm in his voice proved he was spending too much time with Travis. He just smiled like an asshole. Lavender sat next to Kendra and Kylie and Franklin sat on the other side right next to Coco, who looked to Reese confused.

"Who are these guys Reese?" Coco pointed to them with her thumb.

"That's right you weren't there," Reese said wiping his face with a napkin, he coughed to clear his throat which got everyone's attention, "Team CFVY I would like to introduce you to Team KKLF. Kendra Raven, Kylie Payne, Lavender Bessette, and Franklin 'motherf******g' Apple. There some old friends."

Coco looked to Reese, almost a little pissed, she reached under the table and pulled out a large glass jar filled with lien. "Swear," she said as she pushed the jar in Reese's face.

"Oh come on," Reese sighed looking at Coco in the eyes, "I thought it was just for Travis."

"Nope," Coco explained, putting an emphasis on the 'p', "I'm doing this to help you guys. You should be thanking me."

"And here I thought that's what you did to Sam," Travis smiled like the devil getting a glare from Coco, Sam, and surprisingly Kendra.

The Clarinet player politely wiped her face, put the napkin down, took a breath, and looked to Travis. "What?" She didn't sound pleased.

Sam immediately went into 'oh shit' mode and tried to salvage this once pleasant meal. "Kendra, please don't listen to Travis, he's an ass."

"Hey," Coco surprised the two hostile family members, she held the swear jar up, Sam rolled his eyes and put a bill in, "good. Now," she twirled her finger in Kendra's general direction, "who's this? Better not be a girlfriend Sammy." Travis bursted out laughing while Sam and Kendra were both blushing madly at Coco's accusation. "What's so funny?" Coco asked giving a glare to the axe wielder.

"Oh not much. I know our world is different from yours but I never thought in million years that you guys would be accepting of incest!" Travis succumbed to another laughing fit. His outburst caught the attention of the rest of the three teams.

"Um," Velvet said from the other side of Brandon, "what's going on?"

"Coco thought Kendra was Sam's girlfriend," Reese said as monotone as he usually would.

Velvet sort of snickered at that while the two family members looked away from each other, Coco was still confused by the 'incest' remark. "What do you mean incest?"

"Coco," Sam said, "Kendra is my cousin, from Earth."

Coco looked shock, it was hard to tell by what though. The fact she was his cousin, or that they were from Earth. Velvet asked the obvious question. "Wait, they're from Earth?"

"Yes," Lavender says putting down her sandwich, "we were separated in the blast back on the freeway. We found ourselves in Atlas pretty much in the same situation Brandon and the others were."

"And now we're here reunited and all that crap," Travis threw his arms in the air, "how wonderful."

"You sound…so enthused," Lavender deadpanned.

"Don't I always?"

"Wait a minute?" Kendra almost shouted breaking the banter, "Why did you ask if I was Sam's girlfriend? And why'd you call him Sammy?"

Coco suddenly felt like Velvet when she asked for details on her relationship with Brandon. She felt pressed up against the wall and for she was blushing. "I-uh…well you see-"

"Coco and Sam are friends with benefits," Travis nonchalantly lets out.

"Travis!" Both Coco and Sam shout.

"Samuel R. Perish!" Sam felt a twinge of fear rise up in him as he turned to face his cousin. That face, it reminded him of his aunt (that woman was evil), those eyes he swore switched colors to a shade of red. "What do you mean 'friends with benefits'?"

Sam tried to save his skin, "N-n-n-n-no, it's not like that at all! Travis is just being an as- stupid, he's being stupid."

Damn, Travis had a good poker face, "Then I think we would all like to know where you and Miss Adel go every Thursday around seven in the evening and go until nine?" Travis finished his sentence by breaking his poker face by smiling like the Joker from Batman.

Kendra glared at Coco, the woman who took away Sam's innocence, then to Sam who let his innocence be taken away by this, this…slut! She didn't know who to kill first.

Coco did.

The fashionista swiftly reached forward behind Travis head and pulled down on his hair. Travis' face collided with the table. "Son of a bitch!" He yelled as his head reeled back, he held his forehead.

Coco narrowed her gaze at the crass axeman, she placed the swear jar on the table and moved it aside. The mingun user took off her glasses so Travis could see the full extent of her rage. "Run." She said simply, "Now."

Travis didn't need to told twice, his pathological fear of Coco (or more commonly known as 'Minigun/Purse-Wielding-She-Demon-Phobia'), kicked in. The two stared for a second before Travis made the first move and bolted out of the room.

"Get back here Basco!" Coco roared before leaping over the table, going after Travis.

"Don't think you're off the hook you wench!" Kendra joined in chasing after Coco.

"Kendra wait, let me explain!" Sam went after his cousin, hopefully he could save Coco, but he also wanted to kill Travis.

The four all sprinted after the person ahead of them except for Travis, he was running for his life, the rest of them just looked at each other in confusion. Reese actually just kept his focus on his food, he was used to Travis' antics by now, nothing really surprised him.

"What just happened?" Velvet asked.

"Beats me," Franklin said.

"Brandon," Reese says, he was putting his scroll away after reading something, "we should probably head out, we got that thing today to do." Reese was being rather cryptic for some reason.

"What thing?" Brandon wasn't getting why Reese was being so mysterious about.

"You know," Reese leaned in, "that thing." His eyebrows raised at both words.

Suddenly it clicked in the Trombone player's head, "Oh! That thing! Yeah, we should go. Sorry to leave you guys, but we have something to do."

"And we can't come?" Franklin asked.

Brandon scratched the back of his head, "It's a bit of a personal project, plus we don't know what we're doing so more people will only make it more agitating."

"Just be back before five," Velvet reminded Brandon.

"Of course," Brandon leaned in and gave a quick kiss to the top of Velvet's forehead. The remaining Team KKLF kids were a little more than shocked to see that. Velvet smiled before kissing Brandon on the cheek. Reese and Brandon walked off after that, leaving the three members of Team CFVY and the three of Team KKLf in an awkward silence.

"So," Lavender broke the silence and directed herself towards Velvet, "how long's that been a thing?"

-&-&-&-

"F*********************************************************************************K!"

Everyone in the halls who just heard that all turned their heads to find Travis Basco sprinting down his halls. Normally, the students of Beacon had gotten a little used to his constant swearing, he had made a name for himself doing that, but this was a bit different. They had never heard him swear one singular word for what felt like two minutes, it was more like five. Travis ran past many students, he even pushed one down who was unfortunate enough to get in his way. That same student tried to get up before being shoved down by another foot.

"Get your butt back here Basco!" The angry voice of Coco Adel exclaimed.

The student tried once again to get up but was stomped down. "And where do you think you're going you whore?! I'll make sure you can never touch my cousin again!" Kendra roared.

The student waited for a few minutes, they looked up just in case someone else was barreling down the halls. They took a breath and started to stand, only for Sam to run into him knocking them down once again. "Oof, sorry," Sam quickly said before running off to either save his family member or his potential love life, he didn't even give the student a 'how do ya do', "Kendra wait, I can explain!"

That poor student…

The metal shop was in a full symphony of noise. Sparks were flying, mills were running, metal was clanging up against itself, Reese was swearing up a storm as he ran a socket wrench.

"For f***s sake!" He banged the socket on a sheet of metal.

"Hey!" The Percussionist heard Brandon yell from the other side, "Watch the language!"

Reese turned his head from the wall to look at an annoyed Brandon, "Why don't you come over here and fix your damn truck yourself and then not try to cuss up a storm!"

"I'm not the mechanic here!" Brandon shot back from the other side.

In between the two was the pickup truck they arrived in during the blast. It was pretty banged up too, the blast must've damaged it. Part of the pristine silver colored side was scuffed and discolored from the blast. A dust had gathered on the Silverado Brandon usually driven to school in. The plan was originally to leave it in the forest since it would be too big to transport, but Ozpin was able to ring in a few favors. The silver Chevy Silverado was suspended in the air while Reese was working on the engine, his fingers, face, and uncovered arms were covered in car fluids. Right now they were draining the oil, next they would have to remove all the fuel.

"I may be a small time mechanic, but I don't think replacing a whole f*****g engine is part of my job!"

"What do you mean? That's generally what a mechanic does!"

"Yeah, back Home I have to replace gasoline or diesel engines! I don't know the first thing about Dust! Just stick to doing the detail work back there," Reese went back under the engine.

"Hey, I'll have you know aesthetics are a very important."

"Doesn't do much if your car doesn't run."

"Not my department Reese."

"F**k you," Reese looked down at his watch, "you should probably get cleaned up if you're going out with Velvet."

Brandon looked at a clock in the shop and realized the time, he smelled like Reese who smelt like a grease monkey. "Yeah I should take a shower," he sniffed himself, "maybe two."

"I would say eight," Reese joked unscrewing a cap.

"You're a jerk," Brandon said leaving Reese to his lonesome.

When Reese was alone he sighed, one of relief, "Finally, some time alone," he said to himself. Pulling out his scroll he attached a cord to a radio and flipped through some music. He needed some music from Home. "Ahh, perfect," he said finding the right one.

Team RWBY was walking to the metal shop at this same time. Why? Well Ruby wanted maintenance done on her precious Crescent Rose, and Yang wanted to get Bumblebee a tune-up. Weiss and Blake came along because…why not?

"My little sweetheart just you wait," Ruby petted her scythe like it was a puppy, "soon you will be even more fantastic."

"I swear you have an issue," Yang told her sister, "maybe you should get some help."

Weiss was about to say something until the sound of loud country music blared from inside the metal shop. They all looked on it from the outside as the music roared. When they got close enough more of it could be understood.

~Sweet home Alabama~

They had never heard a song with that kind of music and lyrics, confused they opened the door for the music to nearly be knocked over by the loud music. It was deafening levels of music as they winced walking through the shop. They walked into a large room with a large truck hoisted in the air. Someone was under it, but they were distracted by the truck and the music. An odd logo on front with the word 'Silverado' emblazoned on the side. The four all walked around the ruck taking in the large vehicle, it was much larger than most vehicles in Vale. Weiss noticed a scroll plugged into the speaker system and paused the music.

From underneath the truck a familiar voice shouted. "The f**k?!"

"Reese?" All four girls asked hearing the Percussionist's voice from underneath the truck.

Reese came out from the truck a bit surprised by seeing the four girls in the shop. "Girls?"

"What are you doing here?" Ruby asked.

Reese pointed to the truck behind him, "Have to fix up the truck."

"You have to fix it?" Yang kept the questions coming.

"Yeah, it got pretty banged up in the explosion, plus it needs some engine work."

"What kind of 'work'?

"I have to completely redo the engine."

"Why do you have to do that?" Blake questioned.

"Well, as we've stated before we don't have Dust, and all you have is Dust to power, fuel, and energize everything. Back home we have multiple fuel sources so we have to rework the engine to accept Dust instead of gasoline."

"Gasoline?" Ruby scratched her head.

Reese walked over to a red canister with a nozzle, "Gasoline, we just call it gas usually, is the main source of fuel for all motorized vehicles." He pushed it closer to Ruby, "take a whiff." He slightly smiled.

Ruby opened the nozzle and immediately took the largest breath through her nose smelling all the good smells of gasoline. She almost fainted had it not been for Blake who caught her. "Oh gods," Ruby held her head, "that was awful."

"Yeah don't take too big a whiff," Reese smiled even more, "you can faint if left alone with it too long in an enclosed space."

"You knew that was going to happen?" Blake said, a little peeved.

"Hell yeah I knew, I was having a bit of fun. Can never laugh too much a someone's misery."

"You need to stop spending time around Travis," Yang said, gritting her teeth a little.

"Still upset are you?" Reese noticed Yang's disposition.

"Of course," Yang went to pet Ruby's head, "he ruined the innocence of my baby sister!"

"He gave her the talk," Reese said, trying to figure out where Travis went into ruining Ruby's 'innocence', "we're usually told around, like, twelve."

"Well that doesn't surprise me," Blake said.

"Says the one who reads smut books," Reese shot back.

"They're literature," Blake argued, "they just happen to have a heavy romance element."

"Still smut, remind us never to show you Fifty Shades of Grey or," Reese shuddered at the mere thought of those accursed books, "Twilight."

"Why's that?" Ruby asked.

Reese looked to the red reaper, "Ask Travis, he'll explain it to you."

"No!" Yang grabbed Ruby and acted like she was going to protect her with her life, "he is not allowed to be alone with my sister!"

"Uhh, Yang," Ruby said in a muffled voice, "getting pretty hard to breathe here."

'Oops, sorry," Yang released her death grip on her sister. Ruby took a deep breath, this one away from gascan. Ruby accidently knocked into something unmoving.

Ruby looked up to see Weiss in a catatonic state. Ruby poked her side but the heiress didn't move. "Umm Weiss? Are you in there?" Weiss wide blue eyes were just fixed on Reese.

"Weiss," Reese said walking up to her, "Earth to Wiess."

While everyone just saw Reese trying to get Weiss to wake up, Weiss was in her own reality…

 _Weiss looked around her and she was in a romantic looking hotel room. Rose pedals on the sheets, a roaring fireplace, and chocolates on the table. It was heaven, and more importantly Reese was there in front of her. He was in a tuxedo with a red colored tie holding her hand. As they walked to the bed. He gently pulled down her chin with his thumb and she closed her eyes, her fists were sweaty and she clamped them shut, and her toes curled in anticipation. Her whole body shivered with his touch, she could feel his whole body come closer._

 _"What does my ange des neiges want from me?" He whispered into her ear. She noticed that his french accent had returned, oh how much she loved hearing it. It was smooth and calming, sultry and inviting. Weiss didn't answer but she inched closer and 'French-Reese' smiled. He pulled Weiss into his form and he grabbed her by her waist, the light of the fireplace reflecting off her brilliant blue eyes. Weiss latched onto his shoulders and rubbed them to Reese's began to close the distance. This was it! Weiss was dreaming of this moment (a bit on the nose with the wording), she closed her eyes as Reese came closer, ever so slowly. Just so close, he was about to make a lip lock-_

"Weiss!" The heiress shook her head multiple times hearing someone yell her name, she looked incredibly pissed until she saw it was Reese who snapped her out of her trance. If it had been Ruby she might've killed her, definitely if it was Yang. "Weiss you okay?" Reese reiterated.

The Schnee Dust Company heiress looked up and down to survey Reese. It wasn't like her dream of him in a full tux with a fireplace roaring and rose petals on the bed. The Reese in front of her had oil stains on his hands that were currently being cleaned off with a rag, he was wearing a black tank top that showed off his arms which Weiss somewhat enjoyed, a pair of jeans that had the same stains on it. Again she started to stare at the Mandalorian.

Yang started to grin, noticing how Weiss was acting, "Well gee Reese, I think you melted Ice Queen's heart."

Reese was currently drinking a bottle of water and spat out the contents and choking on what was caught in his throat.

"Yang!" Ruby yelled before tackling her sister to the ground.

Blake sort of blushed while Weiss turned completely red hearing Yang's comment. She would admit seeing the spray of water landing on Reese making him glisten only added to the show. The attention of all was grabbed by a loud slamming of a door. Heavy footsteps were heard as the group turned heads. They all saw a bruised and battered Travis Basco step into the metal shop. He took a few steps before sitting down on a seat, took a breath, and slammed his head into the table.

"Ow," he simply said.

"Is that from the table or…" Reese began

"Coco," Travis finished, "it was Coco."

"What did you do?" Blake asked.

"Oh he called Sam and Coco 'friends with benefits' again," Reese nonchalantly explained.

"You what?!" Weiss hissed.

"Yang?" Ruby turned to her sister, "What is 'friends with benefits'?"

Yang immediately went into 'big sis' mode and tried to save her sister, "Umm nothing Ruby! Just worry about it when you're older"

"Yang!" Ruby whined, "I'm not a kid!"

"Ruby," Travis said, Yang gave him an angry glare but at this point he didn't care, "friends with benefits are two people who have a 'no-strings attached' relationship. Usually they f**k each others brains out and not have to worry about commitments."

"Travis!" Yang animalistically screamed.

"What? I already gave her the talk." Travis lifted his head from the table, "Hey Ruby remember what I said about the pituitary gland?"

Ruby went into a crazed state and hid behind her sister's back. "No, keep that thing away from me!"

"You do realize that thing is in your brain already, you have to deal with all the 'big plans' it has in store for you," If there was one word to describe this exchange, it would be awkward.

"What did you do?" Weiss asked.

"He gave Ruby 'the talk'," Yang gritted through her teeth.

"He what?!" Weiss shouted.

"I don't know why you're so angry?" Travis shrugged, "I did you a favor."

"A favor?! How?!" Yang was not pleased.

"When were you going to talk about the birds and the bees with your little sister?" Travis pointed to Ruby behind Yang, "Now, she doesn't have to be so confused when we have adult conversations. Especially around the likes of us."

"She's not ready for that kind of stuff," Yang argued, but Travis knew he was winning the conversation seeing her face falter.

"Says the woman who tried to get me into bed the first week we met," they all looked to Yang who blushed and looked at the ground remembering that exchange, "I get the fact I'm handsome in a rugged kind of way, but try to stay in your pants when you're around me."

Yang was about to say something, she really wanted to retort. "But if you'll excuse me, I must get some sleep," Travis told the group, "getting thrashed by a purse wielding she-demon tends to wear you thin. I would offer you to come with me Yang, but I think that will have to wait. I'm afraid I can't satisfy you tonight." Travis made them all turn red with his comment, Yang just looked like tomato with golden hair. Travis left the room after smirking.

When Yang was sure he was out of earshot she spoke, "I swear I'm going to kill him."

"I don't think it's a good idea to get into it with Travis again," Blake offered.

"Yeah, trust me that guy is one lab accident away from becoming a supervillain," Reese said, "also he get's worse when he's tired. He throws caution to the wind."

"He has caution to begin with?" Yang asked, completely surprised by that.

"Funny."

"Just saying," Yang shrugged her shoulders.

"We should probably leave," Ruby said still behind her sister.

"Probably," Yang took a look to Weiss, "any longer and Weiss-cream might melt being next to Reese."

"You are insufferable," Weiss quickly shot back to the blonde brawler.

Either way, they left, leaving Reese alone once again to work on the damaged vehicle. He sighed once again, like when Brandon left him, but something was a bit different. "Already told you Weiss, I'm not interested."

-&-&-&-

"Kendra for god's sake stop!" Sam yelled at his cousin who was still fuming. She finally agreed to stop going after Coco once she saw him kick the literal shit out of Travis, but she still didn't want to talk to Sam. When a woman didn't want to talk, she really didn't want to hear it. "F***s sake Kendra STOP!" Sam pulled her arm aside and whipped her to face him.

Kendra looked at her cousin with a lot, a ton, an ungodly amount, of anger. "What do you want?"

"I want to know why you want talk to me about this," Sam replied.

"Why? Why?! I'll tell you why!' Sam took a step back at seeing his cousin raging, "We get sent to another universe, we're lost from Home, we can't see our friends and family right now, and you decide to have sex with one of the girls here?! Do you realize what will happen when we leave?"

"We actually don't have sex," Sam said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"That doesn't matter," Kendra threw her hands in the air, "you've been wasting your time here while you could have found a way back."

"I've been wasting my time?" Now Sam was getting a little heated, "I'll have you know we've been trying, but interdimensional travel isn't something we're fluent in. None of us are! It kind of makes things difficult here. Even Travis admits, and he's the smart one out of all of us, it's a long shot to get back Home. So we're not going to hold our breath hoping for some kind of miracle to come about."

Kendra folded her arms and looked down, "That might not be the case."

"What?" Sam was puzzled.

"General Ironwood is having his top scientists work on a way to get us Home."

"Oh he is now, and which company did he have to smoochez next to for that?"

"You don't know the General like we do Sam."

"You're right I'm just using my history classes for once. A guy who controls a military and one of the school's made to train elite warriors. Totally don't see a problem there."

"You make it sound like he's from North Korea."

"I would have thought Russia would be a better example but North Korea will work just fine."

"Samuel…" Kendra growled.

"I'm sorry, we're just worried what might happen."

"Might being the term."

"Kendra, I know you're worried about me just as much as I'm worried about you. But we have to face some facts here. We're a whole universe away from Home and the likelihood of us ever going back are slim. We, as in all of us, need to maybe accept the fact that it may be a long time before we ever go Home. I'm not giving up on them, but we just can't sit around and not do anything."

"But why did you get in a relationship with, with…"

"Me?" Kendra and Sam turned to find Coco Adel standing at the side. "'Sup Sammy?"

"Not much just having a little heart to heart with my cousin," Sam looked to Kendra who still looked a little annoyed by Coco's presence.

"Hello bitch," Kendra said slowly and put emphasis on the 'tch' sound.

"Kendra!" Sam shot back.

"It's fine Sam," Coco waived off not phased since knowing someone like Travis, "do you think you can leave us for a moment? I wanna talk with your cousin for a little bit."

Sam looked between the two women, one his cousin, and second his… whatever, stare each other down. A cold war was forming, and Sam didn't want to be stuck between it. "Okay, just don't kill anybody, either of you." Sam walked away and headed inside the dorm.

Coco took a deep breath. "So how are you?"

Kendra slightly faltered at the pleasant comment, she expected a howling. She tried to reciprocate, "Oh not bad, how about you?"

"Good, I get to make out with your cousin so I can't complain," Coco then smiled.

Kendra nearly fell over after being blindsided by Coco's comment, "The hell is wrong with you?!"

"What?"

"Who says that right to their cousin's face?!"

"Well I have been spending time around your cousin's team. Travis is a bit of a foul mouth."

"Don't need to tell me twice," an awkward tension built, the cold war turned frigid. "What do you want with Sam?"

"Beg your pardon?"

"What's your game? Are you trying to string him along and then break his heart? He's never been in a real relationship so if you dare to even hurt him I will find you and give you something to fear."

Coco was surprised by the ferocity in Kendra's tone. It was probably the first time she had ever intimidated by an earthling. "Kendra, was it? I don't know what me and Sam are. I don't like what Travis calls us but he is slightly right. We don't have sex, that was both of our ideas, we just meet together in the library at night and have a nice chat. You could call it a date, but we usually end up…you know, sucking face," Coco could see Kendra shiver a tiny bit, "Sam's a nice guy, a really nice guy."

"But what were to happen if you two actually got together, physically? And what if we had to go Home?"

"Kendra, I know you're a smart girl, Sam said that many times in our little private moments. So I'm going to ask you this, have you ever wondered if you want to go back to Earth?"

Kendra stood motionless while trying to think of an answer, but all she could manage were mindless stammering, "I-uh-umm-I ne-"

"You need to answer that question yourself before you start talking about if you go back home. You've been here what? Six months?"

"There about."

"So you're probably in the same position as the Team BBRS guys. I can see it in their faces, they want to go home, but they know the short life they'll leave behind here. The friends they made and, in the case of Brandon and Sam, their significant others would be lost here. I highly doubt that if you were to leave you would ever come back. Not because you hate this world, the fact you've stayed in the huntsman academies proves that, but because you probably couldn't. If what Travis says is true, then you guys will have one shot at going back to Earth. I'm not going to tell you how to take your shot, but don't go telling Sam how to take his. Let him decide."

The Clarinet player looked at the ground, Coco swore she was about to cry, but instead she giggled then laughed a lot. "And here I thought you were just another tart trying to steal my cousin."

Coco lowered her glasses, "Does that happen often?"

"More often then one would think."

"Well he is a cutie~"

"Please don't say that stuff when I'm around. I can only handle a certain amount of this crap, and two of my teammates got it covered," Kendra made it look like she was going to be sick

"Maybe, but only if you get me something in return."

"Like what?"

Coco smirked and eased her stance, "You got any embarrassing stories about Sam I could use for leverage?"

Kendra laughed and made it like she wanted Coco to walk with her, "Oh let me tell you. There's a good one from when he was around four years old when he…"

-&-&-&-

Brandon had just dropped off Velvet back to her room, he felt so proud of actually having a date and it not being screwed up. It was a simple, very generic date, nothing fancy. Dinner, a movie, and then a nice walk in the park. Everything was surreal from the moment it started, to the moment it ended with him saying goodnight to his lovely little… Oh what should he call her: Girlfriend? Too soon. Honey? No it sounds like he was already married with her for twenty years. Sweetie, that's what he'll go with from now on

"Sweetie," Brandon said to himself, "that'll work."

"I still say 'snuggle-bunny' is more appropriate," a familiar voice said behind Brandon, he scowled recognizing the voice as Travis'.

"Really?" Brandon said a little peeved, "How long have you been behind me?"

"Oh I just got here, a few seconds nothing more," Brandon noticed Travis was pretty roughed up, he sounded tired.

"What happen to you?"

"Coco caught up with me," that alone answered the question and Brandon just nodded.

"Ahh."

The two got back to their room to find a surprising site, all of their earthling friends were inside their room. It was like last night except it was the Team BBRS room.

"'Sup," Reese said folding a book and putting it away.

"Not much, just wondering while we're all in here," Travis said sitting in his chair, if someone was already in it he would have mowed them down.

"Well, we heard Brandon went on a date and we wanted to know how it went," Lavender replied.

"Went just fine Lav'," the Trombone player said.

"Really?" Franklin egged on, "No details?"

Brandon paused, "Dinner was good, I'd recommend it if you guys are interested."

"While I am all for a delicious meal I believe we must discuss a possible elephant in the room," Travis broke in.

"What's that?" Kendra replied sitting next to Sam.

Travis pointed to Kylie, "I think we need to talk about the ears." Kylie flinched at Travis' comment and he was given a glare from Kendra and Lavender, Franklin was more shocked at the tone Travis was giving off, Kylie took off her blue beanie revealing the blonde and brown dog ears.

"I thought you said it didn't matter?" Kendra hissed.

"It doesn't," Travis brushed off with a calm attitude, "I just want to know at what point this happened? I mean it's not like you had them back Home?"

Kylie looked at the group, "When we first arrived in Remnant," her voice was a little on the quiet side, "I had this persistent ringing in my head. I originally thought it was a headache originally but it never stopped. I was hearing another hat at the time so I thought it was too tight so I went to loosen it. Then I saw," she pointed to her faunus trait, "these, and I screamed."

"Yeah, we thought someone was trying to do things to her," Kendra chimed in, and the other two tightened their grip.

"I was so scared, I mean look at me! I have dog ears."

"Cute dog ears, but don't let me stop you," Travis tried to comfort her, but in his analytical state it was pretty hard to do that.

"It took us so long to convince the General that we didn't have faunuses back Home. It only made everything harder for him to believe that we were from someplace else. I just don't get it, how could this have happened?" Kylie looked to Travis who was swiveling in his chair. He looked like he was in deep thought.

Travis turned to where Reese was sitting. "Reese," the Mandalorian looked up, "would you mind throwing that pencil at me? I want to to test something."

"Sure," Reese was a little confused.

Travis looked to the side ignoring Reese pulling his arm back before throwing a pencil at him. The wooden object spun in the air a few times and was about to clash with the side of Travis' face. Just before though, his hand swiftly shot up catching the pencil. He looked to it with a frown, but not one of sadness but of contemplation.

He set it down and turned back to the group. "I think, and I know this sounds stupid, we have gone under physical and mental alterations when we crossed over here."

Well that was a load of jibberish, "Huh?" The stoned out sounding voice of Franklin said.

"I'm saying we have had certain changes done to our bodies and our minds when we came to Remnant."

"You mean like…mutations?" Lavender asked, "Like from X-Men?"

Travis shook his head slightly while looking at the ceiling, "Not really, think of it in more subtle ways. For instance my reaction time has increased dramatically ever since I've been here. Reese, you said you were a good shot back Home but you also told me you were never that good of one?"

"Yeah it's true, I just chalked it up to all the training we've had to do," Reese told him.

"And that's another thing, training. Do you honestly think that if we were back Home doing this exact same thing that we would be able to do it?" They all shook their heads 'no', "Exactly whether we noticed it or not, we have undergone changes. Even if it's increased stamina or strength, increased intellect or reaction time, or bravery and charisma."

"You honestly think that's the case?" Sam asked.

"Look at Kylie, that's all the proof I need, I thought it could be possible since I woke up here with more muscle mass than on back Home. It was just an idea, but the fact that Kylie has a faunas trait proves that."

"But," Kendra said, "still doesn't explain why she has a faunus trait? We don't have any faunas trait or heritage."

"The only logical explanation is that when she arrived her DNA must have been…spliced."

"..."

"..."

"Travis," Lavender looked at him with genuine confusement, "are we feeling okay?"

"Say what you want about my mental status, but what else could we go with? The only other explanation is that they magically appeared. And I'm going to take a gamble that if were to look at her DNA then we would see she has faunas DNA."

"Still, I don't get how that is an alteration," the group looked at Franklin, sometimes he could be a big idiot, "what?"

"Franklin," Travis just facepalmed.

"I can hear a lot better with these ears," Kylie wiggled them back and forth, "you would be surprised what I can hear. Especially when you whisper when you think no one is around."

Franklin's face went from smiling to 'oh shit' in about half a second.

"Oh really," Lavender looked to the other junior on her team, "and what have you been saying about us?"

"Uhh…" Franklin looked around, "I plead the fifth."

"And here I thought it would be insanity," Travis snarked which was followed by a round of laughter. Travis then went to console Kylie, "Kylie I don't give a rat's ass if you're a faunus or not, none of us do. It raises questions about what this world has possibly done to us, but we should also thank this world for what it has done for us. About six months ago we were eight band students in a world full of some rather nasty creatures and issues. We had no idea how to really fight before we got here, and now magically we can. I think this world has done more for us than we truly think."

"If you say so," Sam spouted, "Kendra? You said Ironwood was working on a way to get us Home?"

The whole group were all ears, including Travis, all of them were eager.

Kendra swallowed a gulp then spoke, "It was about the first month or so when he called me into a private meeting. I thought it was just to answer more questions about Home, but he told me they're working on a way to get Home."

"Did he say how?" Brandon asked leaning in.

"He didn't give me the specifics, he just said they had multiple groups of scientists working around the continent. He told me that even the scientists didn't really know what it was going to be used for to control panic. Imagine if you found out you were making a transport between dimensions?"

"Why did you keep this from us?" Kylie asked, she looked almost hurt about this, "We're a team and we need to keep clarity between us."

"General Ironwood wanted this to stay a secret between the two of us," Kendra explained, "he said it wasn't to be discussed with my team until their side was ready."

"So does that mean it's ready?" Franklin asked, everyone grew hopeful.

"No," their hoped died a little bit, "but they're making progress. I let it slip after me and Sam had an argument on how he'd been spending time." Kendra shot a glare to Sam, and then one to Travis where he whistled while looking at the ceiling. "Please," she clapped her hands together, "don't tell him I mentioned this, I don't think he would be pleased if he knew I let this slip."

"Pfft," Kendra heard Reese snort, "please, like we'd tell him in the first place."

"Yeah, trust me when we say this Kendra, we trust you more than we trust him," Brandon admitted to the group where all the Team BBRS members nodded.

"We won't tell a thing," Travis made a finger run across his lips then smiling.

"Thanks guys," Kendra turned to her team and gave them a look, "I have leverage over you though. If you tell I'll kick your asses."

Franklin chuckled, "You'd wish," Kendra narrowed her eyes threateningly, "but then again you make a convincing argument." The KKLF kids knew something that Team BBRS didn't, and it made them nervous of what Kendra could do in this world. Team BBRS knew what they could do and they reckoned KKLF didn't. Hopefully it would be nice balancing act if they ever went up against each other for some reason.

"Well it's been nice, but we should probably go," Kendra stood up and dusted herself off, "we all have classes in the morning. We'll probably have to spar."

"That'll be exciting," Brandon smiled, "maybe you'll face us."

"Please no," Sam nursed the back of his head, "I'm still sore from getting thrown into a wall by Yang."

"You cut her hair," Travis said back to him, "you deserved it. Even I don't go there. Look on the brightside you didn't faint because of your Semblance."

"You have your Semblances?" Lavender asked.

"Everybody but Brandon's," Travis explained, that comment made Brandon look down at his feet, Travis saw his displeasure but went to help him out, "and that's not a bad thing. For instance you did last the longest against Team RWBY."

"See you guys later," Kendra finally pulled her team from the room.

"Bye guys," the four male musicians of Team BBRS said as the door closed. Sam made the first move by face planting into his bed.

"Problem Samuel?" Travis asked swiveling his chair to start drawing.

"You explain to your overprotective cousin what you and Coco are doing. By the way, f**k you for doing that."

"It was going to come to light eventually," Travis started drawing, his concentration lessened on the conversation.

"Yeah I know it was going to happen, but I would've preferred for me to tell her myself."

"And you did."

"After you got her all riled up about it! How is that-" Sam was stopped by an *ahem* at the doorway.

The four looked to find Coco, leaning on the doorway with a shit eating grin. "Sammy~" she said in a sing-song voice, "you're thirty minutes late.~ You know what that means?~"

Sam looked at the clock and saw it was seven-thirty, and it was a Thursday. Oh he was screwed, figuratively speaking (feel like I need to put that out there). He gulped because he knew what she meant by her comment, it made him shudder. Before he could react Coco latched onto his wrist and pulled him from the room. "Wait a minut-" his voice was muffled by the door closing.

The now three members of Team BBRS all looked to each other a bit in fear, Travis especially so given his fear of Coco, and also a bit in amazement. They all wondered one thing.

How did Sam get a girl like her?

 **-**  
 **Well another chapter over and done with, this one being a talky chapter, sorry about that. I promise to get you a little combat in the next one, but from who you may ask? Or not, you may not even care. I will admit that the explanation for giving Kylie a faunus trait can be a bit… bullshit. It was the really the only way of going about without using a stupider reason than 'I just felt like it'. There was a bit in that in there, felt like a little variety might be nice, but I do stand by what I wrote. Anyways, see ya later suckers.**


	16. Chapter 16: The Weirdest Relationship

**Author's Note: Wassup bitches? Been awhile hasn't it? Other stories along with writers block contributed to the lack of chapters. We will have soem fighting featuring Team KKLF and…well the chapter title tells it all.**

 **-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-**

Chapter 16: The Weirdest Relationship Ever…of all Time.

Kendra skidded across the ground trying to slow down at all costs, lest she be sent into the wall. When she stopped she took a deep exhale, a small amount of sweat dripping off her chin. She looked at the two people across from her, her opponents, from Beacon. They were the same friends who always sat with them during lunch and some of their other classes, she couldn't remember their names right now but that wasn't her focus. Her focus was currently staying alive. Her partner, was doing a f**k all job at that as Franklin skidded across the ground. After making a full stop he brought himself up with a pained groan. He didn't originally agree with this, but who was he more afraid of? His team leader? Or the woman who Travis was afraid of? Answer: both.

In his hand off to the side was his weapon, he called it the 'Ultra Shotgun'. Kendra didn't know why and his explanation didn't help much either.

" _You know the game Doom?" Franklin waited maybe three seconds, "Well they have the 'Super Shotgun', it's a really badass weapon. This is the 'Ultra Shotgun'."_

How Franklin ever got dates was a mystery to her.

She had to admit though, it was a pretty decent weapon. It was a double barrel shotgun like something you would see in an old western movie. The two barrels were colored red and silver with a spiral pattern running along the whole length. The stock was colored black with the name inscribed on it. Flicking the switch right before them, the barrels split on an axis where he put two more dust shells in the receiver. Franklin then flipped the gun upwards and the doubled barrel snapped upward locking with a resounding *click*

"Ready?" he calmly said in his stoned sounding voice.

She rolled her eyes, seriously why did he sound like he smoked weed all the time? "Yeah," was all she responded with before hoisting her weapon up.

If Ruby had a weapon that didn't look right, Kendra put that thing to shame. Her weapon was a large club, nearly five feet in height. It was almost like a mace in some ways, with the metal bashing part of the weapon covered in metal spikes. Multiple lines ran down weapon, and followed to the shaft. The handle of the weapon was colored a dark blue with dulled gunmetal grey on the accents.

With a deep breath Franklin went in first, charging towards the green giant, Yatsuhashi, of Team CFVY. It was a bit of a mismatch due to the fact that Yatsu probably had about a foot and a half on Franklin along with a crap ton more power. Holding his 'Ultra Shotgun' in one hand he dodged out of the way of the large orange sword coming down on his head. He held the gun behind his head and squeezed the trigger. A loud *bang* sounded off behind Franklin's ear as two fiery bullets erupted from the barrels. Yatsu's armor blocked the two shells but the heat forced him back giving enough space for Franklin to grab two more shells.

On Franklin's chest was a belt full of different colored shells, presumably Dust filled. The Rambo style belt laid across a crimson and grey jacket that was left unzipped showing a black undershirt. Franklin was always one for casual wear. Seriously, he was. He was also wearing a pair of cargo shorts back on Earth, even during the coldest of winters. Ironwood nearly threw him in detention, or what they called 'the Brig' because he refused to wear the uniform…and sometimes he did. That didn't change now either, he was currently wearing a pair of camo cargo shorts because he still hated actual pants.

Yatsuhashi leaped back in where Franklin simply sidestepped, unless he wanted to be clobbered over the head. The orange blade struck the ground and quickly bounced up after creating sparks. The velocity of the rebounded blade gave the green giant plenty of time to swing the blade back at Franklin who didn't see it coming. Getting smacked by Kendra's backhand was one thing, getting smacked by the brunt side of Yatsu's blade was another. He still thought Kendra's hurt more. Following the momentum of the swing that brought a bundle of pain to his cheek Franklin swung around to smash the butt end of his gun into Yatsu's head. Well it would have been his head if he were a foot smaller, instead it just hit his shoulder and the gun sort of bounced off. The two just stood there, trying to comprehend what just happened.

"Well…" Franklin said looking at his weapon, "that was a thing." He then was forced to duck under large swing.

Kendra slammed down her club splintering the ground where Fox stood moments earlier. She looked up to see the second year student above her about to descend upon her with his foot aimed at her head. The Clarinet player managed to raise her shoulder, it being armored while her other was not. Fox landed on the piece of metal and jumped back off, resetting their position. Kendra was never a girl who wore pigtails, frilly skirts, and she generally hated the color pink. So seeing her have a large metal club and have over her shoulder armored almost like a rhinoceros was no real surprise. It wasn't how Yatsu or Brandon had their arms covered, no, she chose for her one arm to have the armor start at her shoulder with a large piece of metal with horn covering it, and then sprawl out over the entirety of her arm. She wore a jacket that was colored a, let's say a soulless, blue; the blue looked partially drained, with grey accents on the trimmings and collar. The jacket cut off before the midriff and exposed a black undershirt that cut off just before clavicle. Fingerless gloves held onto her weapon that held multiple mechanical parts alluding to a secondary form. Metallic kneepads the same color as her shoulder armor protected her knees (obviously) which were over simple pair of blue denim jeans.

Kendra charged Fox with all haste. Her club, or as she called it, 'Persuasion' in her right hand as she lowered her left armored shoulder. Fox used his nimble skills to hop on the armor and jump behind her. He charged raising a fist to deck her from behind. Gripping tight on Persuasion she swung in a wide arc at Fox. The spiked club smashed into the side of the second year student sending him backwards. He quickly recovered and sped right at the former band student. He went to slash with his tonfas like blades where Kendra was able to block the first two. But the third and fourth made contact with Kendra's Aura. A strike to the stomach followed by a fist sent into her chin knocked her back. The small stun state she was in was more than enough for Fox to apply pressure. A fist back into her stomach then a kick to the jaw, he grabbed her by the wrist and she dropped her weapon by the surprising tug. An elbow was sent in her direction forcing all that momentum. She coughed out her breath but her chin was forced closed by an uppercut sending her up and inch or two off the ground. With a front flip he kicked Kendra back down making her eat the concrete floor and see a few stars.

"Okay," they heard the voice of Coco Adel said from the side, "I think that's enough sparring right now."

Kendra struggled to get up for a few seconds having to shake her head to get back to reality, while she did that Franklin went flying past her, "Ahh!" He screamed shortly before being flung into a wall. "Ow." He peeled himself and walked over to his leader who had grabbed her club. "Geez, they weren't kidding when they said you packed a punch," Franklin nursed his shoulder.

"Yeah, I think Travis downplayed you guys a little bit," Kendra told them as she cracked her head painfully.

"I did no such thing!" They heard Travis quickly yell as he, the rest of his team, Velvet, and the other two of Team KKLF sitting on the sidelines.

The Euphonium was currently sitting in a chair using a second one as a footrest, Brandon the team leader was sitting in a backwards facing chair Sam was leaning up against the wall, and Reese was sitting on the ground cleaning his pistols. Meanwhile, Lavender and Kylie were standing up looking like they were taking notes on the match. Velvet was next to Brandon sort of leaning up against him until he stood up from the chair.

"You guys did pretty good for your first time," he told the two, "I remember the first time we practiced with them." After saying it all four of them shuddered.

"I swear I thought my leg got broken by that purse," Travis winced as he held his armored right leg.

"See?" Coco looked to Kendra, "All you have to do is beat a bit of respect into them."

"I'll keep that in mind," the Atlas student said while going over her chin.

"It could have been worse," Reese said aloud while still transfixed with his pistols, "you could have been Yatsu throw you into a wall."

"He did you dumbass," Franklin almost shouted prying Reese away from his task, he could see the rubble on Franklin.

"Oh," the Percussionist said, "well I wasn't paying attention."

"Gee, maybe if you didn't clean those pistols religiously every time you fired a shot, you would notice your surroundings," Travis shot back, "I swear we could be dealing with a full on Grimm invasion and you wouldn't even notice if you were cleaning your guns."

"Hey, I'll have you know maintenance is an important part of our training."

"Yeah but so is watching," Samuel got in the conversation, "that's kind of the whole reason why we're here watching them. To learn, maybe point out a few flaws. Team CFVY does it all the time."

"And they do such a great job," Reese in his scratchy radio voice, plus it being usually monotone, made it difficult to tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

"Dang right we do a good job," Coco retorted, Travis raised an eyebrow at her words.

"You do realize you can swear in front us Coco."

"Yeah, but no. I don't want to end up like you."

"I am hurt by your words madam," Travis feigned an offended tone, "but come on. It's fun, it's like a drug but it doesn't kill you."

"Nope."

"Do it."

"Not gonna."

"Come on," Travis' voice then changed to a creepy old man's voice, "give in to your anger."

"Where did that come from?" Coco asked at the sudden change in his voice.

"Emperor Palpatine, Episode VI Return of the Jedi," Reese spouted out while cleaning a bit of smudge that got on his pistol.

Coco, and the rest of Team CFVY looked at Reese, but Travis waved it off, "Don't worry about it, Earth stuff."

"Riiight," Coco accepted it, but just barely, "you guys want to call it a night?"

"Sounds good," Brandon agreed.

"Please," Kendra sounded a bit desperate.

"Aww," Coco teased, "is someone a little tuckered out?"

Kendra deadpanned, "I have leverage over Sam."

Behind her glasses Coco narrowed her eyes, _oh so we're going to play that card now._ "Well you know what, I have leverage over Sam too. Unless you want to do the things that I can do to him~" Coco smiled while Kendra grew angrier, she may have let the whole 'Sam and Coco thing' slide a little bit, but it didn't mean she liked it.

Across the room Sam became beat red as Coco said that. Travis leaned in, "And you say you're not friends with benefits," Sam turned ever so slowly and stared right at Travis' stupid mug. The deadpan grimace in combat with the sarcastic smirk stayed like that until Sam exhaled. "What?" Travis asked before Sam brought up the Alto Cannon and shot a restrained blast at him. "Son of a bitch!" He yelled as the blue energy shoved him to the ground past Reese who didn't even give him a glance seeing his friend get blasted.

"That's what you get ya asshole," Sam said as the Alto Cannon began its cool down sequence where it bled off energy over time safely instead of a huge energy dump, that would be deadly.

"Point taken," Travis said raising one hand and pointing to Sam while he laid on the ground.

 **-X-**

"Umm, can you excuse me?"

Travis turned around to see someone who looked familiar to him for some reason. She had on a Haven uniform along with mint green hair. Currently he had been walking back with the guys, who stopped and looked behind them to see what was going on.

"Hello?" Travis greeted, sort of, "Have we met before?"

"Yeah you ran into me the other day when I was distracted," the girl said scratching the back of her head.

"Oh that's right," Travis remembered now. It had been the day they met Team KKLF and fought against Team RWBY, no wonder he would forget something like that, "sorry about that by the way."

"Oh don't worry," she waved off, "listen can I ask you a favor?"

"Umm," Travis looked back at his team who just shrugged, "sure? What is it?"

"Actually, it's a little sensitive, can we talk in private?"

Travis turned his head slightly to the others, "I'll catch up with you guys later." After another round of shrugs the guys left the two, "So what's going on miss…?"

"Emerald," the now named Emerald confirmed, "and it's a little personal to say the least."

"You're not going to ask me on a date are you?" Travis raised an eyebrow, he almost sounded a little ticked off at it too.

"Wha? No," Emerald shot back, she had to bite back a laugh, "it's just that I have this teammate who's a bit shy, and when she saw you run into you she thought you were a little cute." The eyebrow on Travis' face went higher, if that was possible, "She hasn't stopped talking about you and she's tried to talk to you but she's so shy she can't get near you without running away. I'm getting tired of hearing her babble on about you, so if you could talk to her maybe tomorrow after school that would be great. I'll make sure to get her alone and all you need to do is show up."

Travis gave a very audible sigh, it was more like groan, as he palmed his face, "I don't suppose she'll stop talking if I refuse to talk to her will she?" Emerald shook her head making him groan again, "Fine, she'll get her little meeting." His eyes narrowed, "But know I'm not thrilled about it."

"I'll try to care next time," she flatly told him.

"Hah!" Travis chuckled, surprising Emerald, "Nice job with the snark. Where will this 'chance' encounter be taking place?"

"The courtyard, up by the fountain."

"There's, like, five fountains here. It's like a bird sanctuary part time if I didn't know any better."

"The _main_ fountain, by the giant statue," Emerald corrected herself, giving a dead glare at Travis.

"Okay," he said turning around, he lifted one hand over his head and slightly waved to her goodbye, "tell the bitch just to show up and I will break her poor little heart."

Emerald turned away from Travis, _Thank gods that's over_. She hated having to deal with these kids, they were so stupid, and whiny. Not to mention ar- _Wait a minute. Did he just refer to Cinder as a 'bitch'?_ Suddenly, an evil smile formed over her face. Maybe one of these brats will finally get what they deserve.

 **-X-**

"Wassup guys?" Travis greeted as he entered his dorm room. Reese and Brandon were in their beds while Sam looked like he just got out of the shower, the towel in his hand also helped that idea.

"Not much," Sam replied, "what was that about?"

"I don't know," Travis said honestly, "I think…I think I got roped into a date."

The longest, shortest pause in recorded history took place in that room. Even Reese, who was still cleaning his pistols by the way, turned to look at Travis. "Run that by us again?"

"Well that girl Emerald, I swear this world and its naming system, said that she has this teammate of hers that won't shut up about me. So she's forcing her teammate to meet me out by that giant ass statue out front," they just continued to stare at Travis, "don't look at me, I don't get it either."

Brandon rubbed his temple, "What did you say?"

"I said I would do it-"

"Huh?!" Sam interrupted.

"Only because that girl Emerald was tired of her teammate gushing about me," he finished, "I'll break her heart tomorrow and never have to deal with this again hopefully."

"Such a kind soul we have in our presence," Reese rolled his eyes.

"See," Travis pointed to his companion, "someone gets it."

"You know for a guy who uses a lot of sarcasm, you sure don't know when _we_ use it."

…"F**k you Reese."

 **-X-**

Cinder Fall could be described as many things. Determined, ruthless, calculative. A 'bitch' was probably not the most common.

"And you're sure he said that?" Cinder paced back and forth while Emerald sat in a chair.

The thief looked to her even though Cinder kept her gaze in front of her. "Yes ma'am. He said, and I quote, 'tell the bitch to show up and I will break her poor little heart'," she winced as she recited those words from Travis.

"Sounds like a real charmer," Mercury, who had been leaning up against the wall, put his two cents in, "tell me again why you're going after him first?"

"Are you questioning my methods Mercury?" Cinder asked Mercury, laced within her voice was that threatening tone that proved deadly at the least.

"No," he calmly, "just wondering why you're choosing him."

She stopped, "If what I have read, and from what you told me, is true then he is the smart one of his team. He can figure things out quicker."

"So wouldn't it be better to get to him last then?" Emerald pointed out, "He may be able to find his way through the lies."

"Which is why I'm going to break him first," Cinder replied, "they others will listen to him and even follow him. I just have to make sure he follows me."

"You think it's going to be easy?" Emerald asked her.

She thought about it, "Probably not." She ended the conversation, telling the others not to worry about her. She was Cinder Fall, she was the mastermind of the plan. She would make sure to break them into submission, to follow her every command. It would be difficult at first, but the chase is half the fun…

 **-The Next Day-**

Travis had a feeling, that one where you felt like you were being watched from all angles, which was odd because he and the guys, along with KKLF who were forced to join their class schedule because of obvious reasons, were at the very back of the class. Most people didn't get distracted in class, especially Oobleck's class. It could mean certain embarrassment, or doom, but doom would drive away potential students. The Euphonium player's eyes wandered down the rows and to the sides trying to find where he was getting that odd feeling.

"Mr. Basco!" Travis' eyes shot forward in sudden shock seeing Profes- Doctor -Oobleck looking straight at him.

"Can you give me a reason why it is that the Grimm played a crucial role in the Great War?" Travis had the damndest luck sometimes.

"Umm," he looked down at his piece of blank paper, "it's due to our innate human desires?" It sort of fell out as he said that, Brandon slightly facepalmed at that. Reese just shot him a glance while the rest of the class all looked confused.

Apparently even the Doctor was too, "I don't think I understand Mr. Basco.

"Well think of it like this," Travis raised a finger, "the Grimm are attracted to our negative emotions, for whatever reason. We, as humans or faunus, are innately evil creatures. Really if anything we are more alike the Grimm in ways we don't usually suspect."

About five people, the earthlings swore they saw Weiss also jump in, yelled: "What?!"

""Mr. Basco," Oobleck paused to take a sip, "are you saying we are like the Grimm? That's an interesting conjecture, please elaborate."

"We all have a conscious, I'm going to assume all of you have one. A voice that chooses between right and wrong. The grimm only have the ability to choose wrong, they are not like regular animals that have no ability to see right and wrong, they can only follow trained orders. A grimm, for what I've seen, is practically clawing at every chance to kill, to destroy. We share these same tendencies in the very same displays of emotion which attract them. Anger, sadness, envy, jealousy, hell even disgust."

"And you believe it makes the grimm more like us?"

"I'm going to pull the 'chicken or the egg' card." While the earthlings knew what he meant, most of the class didn't. A few even snickered at the odd analogy.

"I don't believe I understand, is that some kind of joke?"

"The 'chicken or the egg' scenario stems from the belief that we do not know how our world came about. The 'chicken' side of the argument consists of the idea that our world was designed by a creator, or in other words, a god. The 'egg' is the idea that we evolved to the point where we got to where we are today. Because no one can really prove this, and nobody was alive here, the discussion can never be ended. There is no answer leaving the question: 'Which came first? The Chicken or the Egg?"

While most of the class had trouble following Travis'...unique logic, Oobleck was able to follow it up with another question. "So you're saying that the Grimm and humanity have been interlocked since the very beginning?"

"Look where we are. We're in a school to fight these beasts, if we could have, we would have fought them until extinction. They can reproduce at the same rate as, and even more so probably, so it will be a continuous cycle of grimm versus humanity."

"Do you believe we can fully push the grimm into extinction?"

Travis took pause and tapped his chin. "No, and I don't think we should do that." Small pockets of students started to murmur amongst themselves. "Without the grimm what are the huntsman? I'll tell you my opinion, I think they're over glorified soldiers. Protectors of peace who carry weapons of war was not my first career choice. And the same goes for the grimm. What are they without us, without humanity? They would have nothing to feed on, nothing to antagonize. They would simply wither away like so many species have before." Travis paused and made another analogy, "We are the bullfighters, and the grimm are the bulls…sometimes literally, we depend on one another for a purpose, without each other we have no purpose." The bell rang just as Travis finished, when he stopped talking he noticed he was standing up. _Well when did that happen?_

"Remember to read pages 113-129 for tomorrow's assignment!" Oobleck shouted to the class, "Mr. Basco I would like to talk to you up front."

The kid sighed and looked to the others, "I'll catch up with you in a bit okay?"

The seven nodded and left the classroom while Travis walked up to the front to meet with the estranged, caffeine addict teacher. "Yes doctor?"

"I would like to say I found some of your viewpoints interesting," the green haired man said.

"You know of our position in this world Oobleck, we obviously have differing philosophies in a wide myriad of beliefs."

"Yes I am quite aware of your origins dear sir, you and your friends. Which is why I ask that you spend some time after class so we could discuss these."

Travis was a bit puzzled, "You want to what?"

"I believe some pleasant conversations between two scholars such as ourselves would be a wonderful exchange of ideas."

Travis sighed, he wasn't going to argue against Oobleck on this, "I'll see what I can do."

"Excellent! Now run along and get to your next class!"

With a sigh and a rub of his headache plagued mind he left. _Great, first a date with a girl and_ _ **now**_ _a professor. F**k my life._

 **-X-**

"Lavender Bessette and Franklin Apple versus Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark!" Glynda Goodwitch shouted at the arena, today was doubles fight to prepare for the upcoming tournament.

The two earthlings in question made their way down to the arena. "Go get'em guys," their team leader said with a pat on the back to both.

"Kick their asses," Reese said, while he _still_ cleaned his guns.

"It shouldn't be that hard, it is Team CRDL," Brandon said in a surprising bout of confidence. Let's just say they would be surprised if CRDL made it past the first round of the tournament.

"I'd happen to notice that Lavender didn't carry out a weapon," Travis said to Kendra and Kylie, "does she have one?"

"Oh she has one," Kylie couldn't help but give a giggle, "it's going to shock everyone here."

"I'll take your word for it," Sam nodded, he knew Lavender was always an eccentric one.

Stood on the battlefield were Sky and Dove, the two medieval themed warriors as Franklin along with Lavender close in toe. The Ultra Shotgun was resting across both his shoulder as the belt of shells bounced off his moving body.

Lavender however had no weapon on her person by the looks of it. Instead she was just wearing a black tux, yes a tuxedo, with a white dress shirt along with a purple necktie, and a pair of black leather gloves. She was chewing a piece of gum so that cocky grin of hers opened and closed with each chew. Brandon looked to the group of Remnant natives, who they really hadn't talked to since Team KKLF's arrival. He swore as he looked to Yang who could possible have been a long lost twin with her attitude. Sure Lavender was a tad bit taller, somehow and there was the fact their hair color did not match even before she dyed it purple, but they both shared that same attitude.

"Well don't you look fine," Sky commented on Lavender's appearance.

"Finer than you mullet boy," she jested quickly with a smile.

"Hey!" He flipped his hair.

"Aw man, you must think you're so cool," Lavender flipped her own long hair in response, "let the pros show you how it's done~ Maybe you'll learn something." She looked to Dove, "And don't get me started on you blondie."

"What's that supposed to mea-"

"Begin!"

 _ ***BANG***_

Dove and Sky moved their bodies counterclockwise and clockwise respectively to dodge the incoming buckshot of the Ultra Shotgun. With a quick snap of the barrel Franklin was ready for another volley and moved forward to intercept Dove on his turn around. The young swordsman fired a few shots from the pistol function on the hilt forcing Franklin to change his trajectory. After three shots Franklin had made it all the way around and clashed with Dove's blade, the underside of the Ultra Shotgun was armored slightly so it could handle close range. Franklin pushed off the blade and pulled on the trigger a bit more gently that he did before. The left barrel shot a single blast of fire. When Dove moved to avoid the close shot, Franklin fully pulled on the trigger and the right barrel released its volley landing squarely on Dove's chest. The blast sent Dove on the ground several meters from where he just was, the shot was practically point blank so it did a number on his Aura. Franklin flipped the barrel open and inserted two more shells, he counted and figured he had enough for about seventy more volleys.

Sky charged at the smug Lavender who stood there tapping her foot. "Come on mullet boy, I don't have all day for you to attack me."

An easy telegraphed charged ensued as Sky let out a battle cry and went to stab the body of Lavender. The purple haired girl simply moved to the side where she punched him in the cheek. He swung the halberd around but she bent her body in a move straight out of the Matrix and limboed under it. While he was still recovering his stance from the swing Lavender punched his again in the face and even elbowed him with her other arm on top of neck. When he came to, he saw her chuckling as she reached into her tux coat and pulled out… a playing card? She smiled as Sky stood there confused. That couldn't have been her weapon could it…could it? Her smile grew scary when her arm started to glow purple, as did the card.

Even though none of the Remnant natives knew, the nerds of the earthlings made the connections. "No way!" Reese exclaimed putting his guns down for a second as he moved to the front of the seating.

"You got to be kidding me!" Travis joined in.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"She's f*****g Gambit!" Reese turned back.

"Who?"

Lavender threw the playing card with ease at the general direction of Sky who dodged out of the way. The purple glowing card exploded when it hit the ground making all in the room go into a silent hush. Dove looked for a second before being smashed in the jaw by Franklin's fist. Sky meanwhile was trying to comprehend what had just happened, the sight of another purple glowing playing card snapped him out of it as he narrowly escaped by flopping to the floor.

"How did-"

"Semblances," Lavender answered pulling out three cards at once, "they're a neat ol' thing."

Before he could ask Sky was forced to his feet by running away from Lavender's now constant assault of playing cards. One, two, five, it didn't matter how many she would throw, it seemed like she had a constant supply. Sky tried to block one of them, boy that was a mistake, his weapon slipping out of his grip and falling on the ground beside him. When he tried to reach for it an explosion blasted it out of his grasp. He looked up to see Lavender, with that smug smile, holding a card. The Ace of Spades to be exact, it started to glow as Sky dreaded what was going to happen.

"Night, night," Lavender said before lightly tossing the glowing card his direction.

With a boom a buzzer went off. "Sky Lark has been eliminated due to Aura levels!" Glynda shouted for the whole arena, but they could see after he flopped over on the ground.

Dove meanwhile, had not been having fun. His Aura was in the orange while Franklin's was a healthy mix of yellow and green. He dodged two more shots but got blindsided by a explosive playing card. He fell to the floor as Lavender walked up to Franklin.

"You mind giving me a go around with it?" She asked.

Franklin gave a smile, "Just don't break it this time." He reached for a switch on the gun and flicked it. A mechanism quickly spun as the gun shifted forms. The two barrels split down the middle and closed off coming to a pointed end. The stock and butt end of the gun formed and split off entirely from each other into two handles. A cone shape cover spouted out before the handles. In Franklin's hand were two jousting javelins, the long weapons kept the same red and silver spiral patterns that were on the original gun barrels but much more spread out and visible. He handed Lavender one and rested the other on his shoulder.

The silver and red weapon started to glow a purple hue and in a short few seconds she took aim at Dove. He started to run, it was probably a good decision, except for the fact that she had a clear target at his back. With perfect form she threw the spear weapon at Dove. It felt as if everything went in slow motion. The sudden gust of wind blowing a stray lock of her hair, the javelin spiraling perfectly with the curved colors making it look like a devilish candy cane, the slow turn of Dove's as the purple energy infused piece of metal came at him. The explosion didn't come slowly though as time came returned to normal speed and the explosion echoed throughout the hall. A foot practically stomped on the back of Dove and Lavender proudly stood atop his possibly broken body.

"That's the match," Glynda announced and then went to give some critique to both teams, Dove and Sky's would have to wait until they regained consciousness.

 **-X-**

"Well damn guys, you put on a show," Sam said to Lavender and Franklin as they walked through the halls.

"Yeah, we know," Lavender nodded, completely aware of how badass she was.

"I didn't think you had unlocked your Semblances as of yet?" Travis questioned, "You were shocked to learn some of us had ours."

"We have spent the same amount of time here as you guys have," Kendra pointed out, "if you guys could, then why not us?"

"No reason. It's just surprising you didn't tell us."

"You haven't told us about yours," Kylie told them.

 _Oh, yeah. Crap._ "Touchet," Travis admitted defeat.

They got back to the Team BBRS dorm room and noticed a group of four huntresses standing outside their own respective door. "Oh hey guys," Ruby happily cheered waving her arm about.

"Wassup guys," Yang greeted.

The four members of Team KKLF noticeably tensed up while Team BBRS was much more relaxed. "Not much girls," Brandon replied. Kendra nudged him in the side, he told her in a whisper: "relax."

"Watcha' doing?" Sam asked.

"Oh, we were planning on having a movie night," Ruby said enthusiastically, "you guys wanna join?"

"That doesn't sound too ba-"

"I'm sorry but we can't," Kendra interrupted Brandon's comment, the four of BBRS looked sternly at Kendra. They hated when she did this.

"I'm sorry," Weiss took a step in front of her team, that snooty heiress tone ever present in her voice, "and just who are you?"

"I'm-" Kendra faltered.

"They're friends of ours," Travis simply responded, "from Home."

"Wait really?!" Ruby yelled.

"Travis!" Kendra practically screeched.

"They already know Kendra, we told them long before we knew you were even here. Even the team across the hall knows," Travis explained.

"Who _doesn't_ know?" the E Flat Clarinet player grinded her teeth.

"Most of the school. Only Ozpin, Glynda, and three teams at Beacon know of our origins. This here is Team RWBY, they were the last team to know."

Kendra looked like she was about to rip into Travis until Brandon put a hand on her shoulder, "Kendra it's okay. They help us keep a good cover, it was a necessary sacrifice."

"Plus, they wouldn't stop prying into our personal live so overtime they wore us down. After a while we just broke down and decided to tell them."

"Brandon, I'm going to want to speak to you," she turned to the Trombone player, "alone."

He sighed and shook his head, "Okay, you guys enjoy the movie, it looks like hurricane Kendra is going to rain on my parade."

"I would love to join you," Travis said, "butI have that 'thing'."

"Oh that's right," Brandon said, "completely forgot. Have fun by the way."

"I'll try," Travis waved them off before walking away from the group, he didn't look like he was going to have fun if his sneer was anything to go by.

"Where's he going?" Blake asked as Kendra and Brandon went off to 'discuss' some things.

"Oh he has a date," Reese told them nonchalantly before going into his room leaving the seven members of KKLF and RWBY stunned, "now how about this movie night?"

"Wait what?!" Yang demanded to know more.

 **-X-**

Travis sat on a bench right next to the main fountain and statue of Beacon going through his scroll, his gaze half lidded as he didn't even bother to really read any of it. He knew he was going to regret telling RWBY about KKLF, but someone had to and Weiss-cream pushed the issue. So he took things into his own hands. Hopefully Brandon would be able to calm her down a bit before he himself talked to her. Kendra could be like Coco sometimes, downright scary. It made him wonder what Sam saw in Coco, maybe he was attracted to scary women because he was used to the sight.

 _Sure, that's what we'll go with,_ a playful smile. He looked up when he heard a two voices, they were faint but close.

"It's fine see?" It sounded like that Emerald girl, "He's right there waiting for you, like I promised."

He turned around to see the lucky, or unlucky, girl who was secretly crushing on him. He remembered seeing her the day he bumped into Emerald, she seemed fine when he saw her. Nothing out of the ordinary when he thought about it. Who knows, love does strange things to people. Look at Coco.

"Um h-hello," Travis was so lost in thought he didn't notice that the two girls had gotten right in front of him, "I'm Cinder."

Travis was taken aback, by like a lot. She was beautiful, like I will gladly cheat on my wife beautiful, how could she be so shy? Maybe she was one of those that didn't like to flaunt her beauty. He couldn't stand the teasing from Yang from the first week, not to mention Coco would say a few things as well, this may have been welcomed change of pace. He didn't realize it, but he satred right at Cinder for a good two minutes.

"Are you okay there?" Emerald's voice broke Travis out his trance. He shook his head from both sides.

"Yeah, yeah," it didn't sound convincing at all leading to a hidden smirk for Cinder, "just thinking of other things."

"Oh well if you don't want to-" the meek and fake shy voice of Cinder began.

"No not at all," Travis cut her off he motioned to the open seat next to him on the bench, "please take a seat."

Cinder looked to Emerald, a fake glance of worry, "It'll be fine Cinder," gods did she hate doing this. Cinder sat next to Travis, appearing uncomfortable by her shifting. "I'll come back for you later," she turned to Travis and pointed a finger at him, "don't try anything funny."

"Wasn't even thinking about it," out of the corner of his eyes he could see Cinder relaxed, but something felt off to him.

"Bye Cinder," Emerald walked away with a wave and the raven haired girl waved back.

"Bye Emerald," she looked to Travis once Emerald was out of sight, "it's nice to meet you Travi-"

"Cut the act," he said in a rather stern tone.

 _He's more perceptive than he looks,_ she thought, but her facade not breaking just yet. "I don't know what you mean."

"Oh for god's sake," he rolled his eyes, "you're playing the part of the cute shy girl to get to me, someone who would not normally accept a date."

Cinder gave a coy smile, breaking her shy face and shifted to the side facing Travis fully, crossing her legs and folding her arms. "It seems what people say about you doesn't do you justice. How did you figure it out?"

"When you lie for a long time you know how to spot one. Lie much yourself?"

"That depends," she smirked and flipped her hair.

The Euphonium player stood up from the bench and cracked his back, "Well, I have no reason to sit here while I was lied to. So good day miss." He started taking steps.

"I did actually want to talk to you, I think you're a rather interesting person," she said to his backside.

"You can do that to my face without lying, I am a goddamn human being," his full intention to walk back to his dorm and enjoy a movie night…or get howled at by Kendra, it was a real 'pick your poison' moment.

"Get back here you ass."

Whatever Travis had been thinking, doing, or what he was not all stopped the moment he heard this Cinder girl use the word 'ass'. Never in his time on Remnant, had he heard one of the natives actually swear, he was told it was a cultural thing or some shit like that. He got Yang close a few times, and admittedly he had to cover Ruby's mouth once to avoid a certain 'fist based apocalypse' because her innocent mind had no clue what swearing was. Travis looked back at the girl, Cinder, with an eyebrow raised in curiosity while she herself was giving a smirk as she fully relaxed on the bench and motioned him to come closer with a finger.

"Interesting word choice," he said not moving quite yet, "someone might be offended by such things."

"Someone, but not you," she patted the seat next to her, "come, sit. I imagine we will have a lot to talk about."

The axeman chuckled to himself, "I believe we do, Cinder."

 **-X-**

Two hands slammed on a desk in the Team KKLF room. "How could you just tell them that?!" Kendra yelled to Brandon.

"You already knew about Team CFVY knowing and you seemed fine with that," Brandon tried to reason, "outside of what Sam was doing you were fine with it."

"That was before I found out you told _more_ people who I have not known about Home's existence! What did you do hold a massive assembly and announce it to the whole student body?!"

"Why are you getting so worked up over this?" Brandon had no clue, "It's not like RWBY are a bunch of criminal masterminds in disguise. You're completely overreacting."

"Don't tell me I'm overreacting!" Kendra slammed her fist on the desk.

"No you're not overreacting," Brandon rolled his eyes, "You're being controlling, just like you always were back in class."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kendra hissed, her teeth grinding together in anger.

"Do you realize how many times we had to change things in our music because you suggested it and we didn't want to argue with you?" He waited about five seconds, "More times than I can count."

"What are trying to say?"

"I'm saying you can be a pain in the ass sometimes. You need to loosen up, relax, live a little."

"But what about Home?"

"Did I ever say I was giving up on it?" He paused letting the silence fill the air, "No, I never did. I realize the General is working on it, and we decided to look into options before you all came. Trust me when I say this, we aren't just going to kick back and do nothing while we're here. Time and time again we've always known that going Home is going to be the largest risk we ever taken, and that's _if_ we get a chance. Travelling between isn't something we all know." Kendra looked down, he sighed before walking up to her and gave her a small hug, "We're still students Kendra, that didn't change because we crossed dimensions." _Ain't that the truth,_ he thought to himself, "So let's be teenagers while we still can, just because we're far from our friends and family doesn't mean we can't be the people who we always were. What use is lying to these people who have given us a lot? The Ironwood or Ozpin could have thrown us out into the streets or sent us to an asylum, I'm half surprised he didn't."

"But how many people have to know?" Kendra asked.

"Only Teams CFVY, RWBY, and another named JNPR along with the obvious of Ozpin and Ironwood," he wasn't going to tell her about the teachers, and the teachers outside of Glynda didn't know about KKLF.

"Really twelve students? We only have two who know."

"Well RWBY was really nosy, JNPR is good friends with RWBY, and CFVY saved our lives when we first got here."

"Hmm, maybe that Coco is good for something after all."

"And here you thought she was going to corrupt Sam."

Kendra shot Brandon a glare, "She still can."

"Please, he shares a room with Travis, the poor kid probably has heard so much it's ruined his entire body and most likely his soul."

"Don't remind me."

"If it makes you feel any better Travis got practically forced into a date."

"Oh he did," the brunette was genuinely surprised, "was it that one blonde chick who we saw arguing with him a couple days ago?"

"Yang? No, they hate each other's guts, they nearly destroyed the school the first week we were here, but that was mostly on Travis' part."

"Doesn't surprise me."

"Be disappointed if it did. Now," he sighed and opened the door, "I'm going to enjoy whatever Remnant rip off of a movie from Home. Last week it was their version of James Bond, 'Jameson Blonde'. I swear some people have the creativity of an insect."

"The 'Grimm Mourne'?" She pointed out, Brandon's face scrunched up in annoyance.

"Should never have told you she had a name," he whispered to himself.

"'She'?" Kendra just about bursted into laughter but was able to hold it off.

"You wouldn't be able to understand," he dismissed. He was about ready to head back, "You coming?"

"Yeah sure, I'll be there in a few. Have to look over some notes," he would have argued, but at this point he really wanted to relax and watch a movie.

When she was alone Kendra let out a sigh and opened her scroll. She flipped through her contacts and opened the messaging. Quickly typing she thought this might be a bad idea, it could be horrendous, but maybe Brandon was right. Maybe they should relax for a bit.

 _~Push back Project Gia until week before the tournament.~_

 _Message Sent_

 **-X-**

Travis was never the stealthy one in the group, that probably had to go to Reese or maybe Sam. So it didn't surprise him when he came into his dark and dimmed dorm room past midnight. He practically tripped over everything, but the others must have worn themselves out because nothing stirred. Seriously, what the actual f**k, he even heard something like a squeaky toy sound off. Why was there a squeaky toy in their room? It didn't matter as he found his prized chair and sat himself in it. He gave a sigh before simply falling asleep right there. Just when he finally got comfortable he heard the click of a switch the dull glow of light on his eyelids appear. He opened his eyes and swiveled his chair.

"Well f**k," he said as he saw the three members of his team, the entirety of Team RWBY, and all of Team KKLF sitting somewhere in the room.

"So Travis how was our date?" Sam asked, this felt like a mass interrogation to the axeman.

"Shouldn't you be f*****g Coco right now?" Travis told off his teammate who grew a little red, his cousin glared and took a sharp inhale.

"Come on Travis," Franklin, _you traitorous scum_ , "we just want details."

"Yeah," Yang added in, _damn blonde bimbo_ , "I really want to hear this. Is she a robot or is she inflatable?" Her team looked at Yang with a glare while Ruby was confused as all hell.

"It seems my personality is rubbing off on you Yang, I've already had to tell my date to cool it a little bit. Then again, she said the same to me."

"She told you to stop swearing?" Lavender questioned, "She's brave."

"And incredibly intelligent," Travis said, "we had a lovely discussion throughout dinner."

Weiss: "Discussion?"

Kendra: "Dinner?"

Sam: "Wow Trav, I thought you said you'd break the little bitch's heart?"

"I was in all honesty, but something about her changed."

"What was that?"

"I don't know," Travis replied, "that's the weird thing."

"What did you talk about?" Weiss asked, surprising him as to why she would ask. A quick side glance to the one somehow still cleaning his guns answered his questions.

"Oh not much, just small talk," it was a flat out lie. They talked about kingdom politics, battle styles, dust, philosophy, a whole plethora of topics. None he wanted to share, he wanted to get to bed.

"But here's the magic question," Yang said for the whole group, "you seeing her again?"

"I told her I would talk to her later," Travis said simply then he relied on sarcasm in his next statement, "it's not like we're stuck in the same vicinity."

"And how do you know she doesn't want to see you?" Blake asked.

"Because I'm not Jaune asking Weiss virtually every five minutes."

"Ouch," Yang said looking to Weiss.

"Besides, _she_ gave me her number, I did not ask for it."

"And she is real right?" Sam asked with a chuckle.

"Take a look for yourself," Travis told them as he chucked them his scroll with a picture of Cinder on it.

Lavender gave a low whistle while most just nodded, Yang had a small look of disbelief, Reese was too busy wiping a smudge on a pistol to look.

"Now if you're done interrogating me like a convict, I would like to get some rest, we all have classes tomorrow and I would prefer if I wasn't tired during Goodwitch's class."

A round of chatter ensued containing everything from 'Fine' to 'Well continue this later'. Even his own team didn't press the issue, Travis promised them details tomorrow, and no doubt he would have to tell CFVY…at least Coco would pry the issue. He felt the day catch up with him and the weariness took control of his body, demanding sleep. He closed his eyes remembering the last thing Cinder had said to him that gave him pause.

 _Who can you really trust when the world falls?_

Travis still remembered his answer that he didn't say: _I trust who I always have, my friends._

 **-X-**

"So how was your date?" Mercury asked as Cinder returned from her outing.

"Better than expected," she said pulling out a table sized scroll and going through her plans once more.

"Is he on our side?" Emerald ask to the chuckles of Cinder.

"Dear Emerald you cannot expect someone like that to agree with every point I make. He even combatted my arguments with some of his own."

"Does he suspect anything?"

"Nothing at all, but I will see about that next time."

"You're seeing him again? Is that wise?"

"Am I not allowed to enjoy myself?" Her amber eyes glowed with intensity.

"Oh no!" Emerald had a twinge of worry, "I was just thinking-"

"Don't think, obey," she said, "you would like dear Travis, he is quite intelligent and may be helpful without knowing."

 _He has no clue who he's messing with._

 **-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-**

 **Well great, Travis is in a relationship with Cinder...Cinder Fall...Cinder f*****g Fall. Great, just great. Hopefully more chapters will come in the immediate future, maybe not two months difference between. Anyways, see ya later suckers.**


	17. Chapter 17: Like Fire and

**Author's Note: Well, it certainly has been a while, not just in terms of this story but in my writing as a whole. College is a very time consuming and tiring endeavor, I failed two of my classes and changed my major. It is worth noting that I am only a freshman so majors don't really matter right now. But still, I got put on academic deficiency so technically I'm in trouble, yet not at the same time, so long as I get my GPA above a 2 (which should be easy, but lo and behold I got below that threshold). Thankfully I'm taking somewhat easier classes next semester, so I shouldn't be in too over my head. Also, RWBY Vol 5 is not too shabby, I'm finally glad we're done with the Menagerie Arc. If you ask me they never really made the faunus likeable, to me they just stood around while shit happened. Plus, I find Blake my least likeable character out of the main team. But who cares about my opinion, please enjoy.**

 **-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-**

Chapter 17: Like Fire and…

There was something to be said for the sheer determination of Reese Martins. You would think that having nearly twenty girls ask you to a dance you would be on cloud nine. Nope, not Reese, he denies every single one of them with great fortitude and probably a bit of stupidity mixed in there as well.

"Hey I was wondering if you-"

"Nope too busy."

'Doing what?"

"Anything _but_ that. Good day to you madam."

"Hey Reese, we sit next to each other in Dust Mixtures and I wondering if you wanted-"

"Share notes? Well sure, there in my 'nope-book'."

"Reese-y kins."

"Oh f**k this, I'm outta here!"

 _ ***SLAM***_

"Trouble Reese?" Travis asked as he sat in his usual place in the room, in a desk with a piece of paper for him to draw on. Seriously it was like a ritual for this guy to be sitting at his desk drawing.

"Oh besides the fact I'm getting chased by like thirty girls a day and it's only increasing as we get closer to this stupid dance. *Sigh* I can't wait for this to be all over."

"Yeah I know the feeling."

"Really because last time I checked you didn't have a metric ton of women trying to ask you out."

"You do realize if Cinder and I continue to go out, I will probably have to take her to said dance. Which will include having to cater to her, let her get her makeup just right while I sit there outside the door, and then have to dance."

"Dancing isn't that hard man."

"For someone who's never done it, I think it raises some concerns when in a public area."

"You've never gone dancing?"

"Reese look who you're talking to."

Reese did look, and it clicked, "Duly noted, I can give you some pointers."

"It will have to wait unfortunately."

"Why's that? Got another date with Cinder?"

"No, that's not until the weekend, but remember today's the day where we rented out the lab space for our 'experiments'."

"Oh right, that day. Any ideas to go off of?"

"Not really, I've been going through every Dust book in the library but so far no dice."

"Hmm, oh well, have you seen the others?"

"I think Sam was going to talk with KKLF about today, and Brandon's doing f**k all somewhere. Haven't seen him since our last class."

"Is he with Velvet? They've been hanging out a lot lately."

"Maybe. Hey, can I ask you a question?" Travis turned in his chair away from his drawing.

The percussionist shrugged, "Sure go ahead."

"I want to know about what you think about Brandon, me, Sam you know…"

"Going out with some of the girls?"

"Yeah, that."

Reese looked out the window overlooking the landscape, "I'm not angry if you think that's it, I totally understand why you would. I don't think there's a single 'ugly' girl at this school, it's almost a little weird. I'm glad you didn't chose to go after people we directly will see on a day to basis. Yes we see CFVY a lot but we don't have any classes with them giving Brandon and Sam some much needed room, unlike if you guys were going out with anyone from RWBY. The last thing we need is another Gonzales and Eva from work, you remember what it was like after they broke up."

Travis shivered, "God it was the worst, I nearly put Eva's face in a milling machine."

"Exactly, at least with hours of classes in between meetings there shouldn't be too many issues. You and Cinder though, I have no clue."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"I will admit Cinder gives me some weird vibes, but we're in an unfamiliar environment so I always have that feeling. I'll trust you on this mainly because I've known you to make the right decisions most of the time."

"Gee, well thank you," Reese rolled his eyes, "I feel _so_ honored."

"Shut up Reese I'm asking for help here."

"Helping has never been my strong suit, but I do have one question for you," Travis perked his head up, "what are you going to do once this is all over?"

"Once what is all over?"

"Well at the top of my head, I'm going to say the Vytal Festival, long term I'm asking about the day where we can go Home."

Travis swiveled in his chair, away from Reese and to the wall where the closet holding all of their stuff from Home was, "I have no clue Reese, and that's the scary part. It all depends on how these next few dates go and what happens in the future." The axeman then stood up and walked to the door, "Message Brandon and Sam, I'm heading down to the Dust Labs for testing."

"Ok, I'll shoot them a text."

 **-X-**

"You better come back safe, alright?" Brandon said into the ear of his… significant other, Velvet, the engines of the bullhead at a dull roar. He released from their hug and she gave him a quick peck on the cheek, "Keep Coco in line, and watch out for-"

"Brandon, it's fine," she assured him for the hundredth time, he could be such a worry wart sometimes, "it's just a simple mission, shouldn't last more than a week."

"Okay," he breathed.

"Hey Velvet!" Coco yelled, "We're going to leave without you, make out when we get back!"

Velvet turned back to Brandon, they both had blushes on their faces, Velvet shrugged, "You know how she is."

"Jealous?" He chuckled.

"No she just has an itchy trigger finger, she carries that huge minigun for a reason."

"It's completely impractical, not to mention overkill."

"Just how she likes it, bye Brandon."

"Bye Velv," he said with a quick peck on her forehead and she ran off to the bullhead. He shielded his eyes as the engines swept up dust and dirt into his face. Brandon waved goodbye and could see Velvet through one of the windows. "Be safe," he uttered quietly then turning around.

"That was so worth it," came the incredibly dazed voice of Sam, Brandon had completely forgot he was even there. It helped that he nearly had a tube of cherry red lipstick in the forms of kisses planted on by Coco. It was hard to tell if Brandon was jealous or worried, she went ham on him. Like, there was even one on his eyelid…girl's crazy.

"Weren't you supposed to talk to your Kendra or something?"

Sam's eyes shot open, "Son of a bitch! I have to-" He stopped when he saw four people behind him, four very _familiar_ people, "oh heeyyyy cuz', how ya doin?"

Kendra, along with her team all looking like they were going to spar, weapons and all. "Oh not much," the team leader said, "we just got a text from Reese saying he and Travis are going to the labs today."

"I knew I forgot something," Sam grimaced.

"That's okay," Lavender said with a coy smile, "looks like you were busy anyway."

Kendra shot her teammate a glare and elbowed her, she then looked to Sam and raised an eyebrow, "Just wipe 'em off before we go inside, the last thing we want is rumors." If she could have spat out the words she would have, along with thrown them out a window and possibly shot them out of a cannon to boot. "Come on, let's go." She turned hoisting her spiked club over her shoulder.

Sam, Brandon, and Franklin all watched as the three other girls walked forward. "I'm going to be honest," Franklin admitted, "she scares the shit out of me. They all do."

"With good reason," Brandon agreed leaning in as the three girls shrinked in the distance. Seriously think about it, Lavender had exploding playing cards, Kendra had a club the size of herself, and Kylie was secretly evil beneath that nice exterior that only the likes of Brandon and Kendra had seen. The poor Trombone player couldn't sleep straight for a week when it became apparent.

 **-X-**

"Okay Travis, we're all here, what's the plan?" Kendra asked with little leniency in her tone, this was all business with her today.

The Dust Labs were an oddity in the school built to train warriors to protect. Seldom is there ever a connection between laboratory and battlefield. The two are almost mutually exclusive, outside of the eccentric Doctor Oobleck none were really into academics. Sure people like Weiss demanded perfection in their grades but that was purely because she craves perfection for perfection's sake. Now, the Dust Labs were a lot like some of the sparring halls, that being below ground. It was like entering a dungeon of sorts, minus the torture equipment, but some of the powders in the vials did not add to a cheery attitude. Black, colorless tables were placed in a manner of logic and repetition. Multiple cabinets lined the walls, attached to the ceiling and rising from the floor as well. Beakers, the non-alcohol version of flasks, pipettes, and plenty of Dust to do all sorts of testing and experimentation with. And luckily there was a group of people needing all that Dust.

Travis was standing at one end of a table with the Brandon, Sam, and Team KKLF on the opposite side; Reese was off at the end of the table between, a notebook on Travis side. "There isn't exactly much of a plan unfortunately. Last time I checked, interdimensional travel wasn't a thing in _either_ worlds. What we're doing is virtually science fiction. Luckily we have some things to go off of, even if they are spitballing. If you recall, we were sent here by an explosion, now assuming that we are actually _alive_ and not in some weird version of purgatory or hell then there should be a way to recreate the same effect."

"So how would we recreate the same effect?" Brandon asked, "I'm not willing to get blown up for the sake of science."

"No, not at all, I would not subject yourself to that, we merely have to recreate the same energies."

"And how would you be doing that?" The leader of KKLF questioned, "You weren't exactly preparing to jump universes."

"That's the issue, we have virtually no idea how to actually do this. I may have figured out a place to start though."

"What is it?"

"Well, a result of Einstein's Theory of Relativity is Time Dilation, the idea that once you start approaching the speed of light the slower time appears to you."

"What does that have to do with what we need? That sounds more like time travel, than dimensional travel."

"Yes," Travis admitted, "but the two are probably interconnected, we figure out part of it and chances are we get closer. By the way, I was hoping you could share anything from Ironwood and his scientists, Kendra."

They all turned to the female brunette whose face turned a little sour, "I can call him up, but he'll want to know why. He won't be too pleased that I told you about his work."

"Well, I'll make sure to give him a half-hearted apology, this is important to us and keeping it from us is dick move. I think the others will agree?" And they did, all three members of Team BBRS nodded their heads.

"Okay, I'll give him a call," she walked away and placed her scroll on her ear, "hey general, it's me Kendra…"

"Travis, I'll be right back, I left some stuff in the room," Reese said.

"Sure go ahead," Travis wasn't paying too much attention as he grabbed a few vials of Dust, "if you could, get me that physics textbook from the closet."

"I'll try, it's a bit of a mess," he looked to whoever was closest to him, "Kylie, think you could help me?"

"Sure," the blonde said, they walked out of the lab.

"What should we do?" Lavender asked.

"Open your scroll, and try to find _anything_ on teleportation. Semblances, past experiments, technology, theories, anything pertaining to the task at hand."

"Yay," Sam snarked, "reading."

"I would say go to Coco if you didn't want to, but the way your pupils were dilated tells me you just saw her. And by the blush I would say you enjoyed your time."

Sam slowly receded into the screen of his scroll, a small blush on his face. But not before muttering a quick: "F**k you," to Travis.

 **-X-**

"Alright," Reese said as he opened the door to his team's room.

"So what am I looking for?" Kylie asked as she opened the rather messy closest.

"Should be a just a basic physics textbook," he said walking past the closest and going over to his bed where a pile of his own stuff was.

"What did you need anyway?" The now-faunus asked going through the mess that was the closest, cleanliness was never any of their strong suits.

"Oh, I left a pistol in here, I always like to have everything on me."

Kylie took a moment a to pause and look at Reese, "Do you mind if I ask a question?" He gave a grunt version of the word 'sure' which she took as a yes, "Why did you make that armor?"

He found the pistol where he last put it and quickly placed it back in his holster. Taking Kylie's question in he placed his helmet in both arms so it stared back at him, "Do you want the honest answer or what I tell everyone else?"

"What do you think?" She deadpanned at him.

"Kylie, do you know what happens if we don't succeed? What happens if it takes years, decades, to get Home?"

"I try not to think about it, it's better to have a positive attitude towards this whole thing."

"Easy for you I guess," he said off to the side, "but to answer, I wear this armor, I made this armor to remember Home by."

"To remember Home? Reese, we're working on a way Home right now."

"Yes right now, but what happens if it doesn't work Kylie? Like I said, what happens if it takes years to ever get Home? What happens if we're old and everything we know about Home is nothing but a distant memory. Well I don't want that. So, to avoid that I made something that I know will stay with me for a long time." He placed the helmet on his head, completing the rust colored ensemble. "So since you asked, what the hell is with your getup?"

It was a good question. While the other members of KKLF had armor, and attire that made sense, Kylie looked more like royalty akin to say Weiss or high society. A long black gown with purple trimmings and undertones stretched all the way to her ankles, it held tight at her waist off to the right with a medallion like object with her symbol, a Clarinet with a rush of...wind? Reese couldn't really tell since art was completely subjective. A jacket that went over her shoulders with the same color scheme also created a collar for her. Her blonde hair was let down, her two faunus ears were full display. It was still odd to see her with the ears, but they were slowly getting used to it. All he could see of her weapon was a golden rod across her back with a blue gem in the middle of in a diamond shape.

"I prefer this, I more at home when dressed like this," she spun around letting her hair fly and the minimal slack in her dress flow.

"You're in heels," he pointed at her feet where two black heels, it was maybe an inch or two of an incline.

"It's fine Reese, I've gotten used to them," she defended, "I haven't spent the past six months just fiddling with my new ears."

He chuckled, "I guess not." He saw that she was holding the textbook, at what point she found it was a mystery to the Mandalorian, "Let's get going."

Three steps, they only made it three steps out of the door before he was stopped. "Wait," he said holding his hand to her. Using the numerous functionalities of his helmet he peered into the neighbor room, Team RWBY's dorm to be precise. And noticed an awful lot of extra bodies in there, okay maybe it was two, but that was two more than usual. He knocked on the door.

 **-X-**

" _Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap!"_ Were the exact thoughts of Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Sun, and Neptune as they heard a knocking on the door. It was bad enough that Sun and Neptune both eavesdropped on their mission to go to Vale, but now someone else was. Was it Ozpin? Goodwitch?! Oh that would be awful, disastrous, apocalyptic even! Ever so slowly Ruby opened the door expecting to be scolded, but instead got a confused sound.

"Ruby?" It was Reese, his scratchy voice was easily discernable, "What are you doing? And what's with the getup?"

The girl behind him scoffed, "Do you ever stop questioning people's attire choices?"

"It's just ill-suited for combat, that's all I'm saying."

"Uhh, Reese," Ruby tried to play it off, "whatcha doing?"

"Ruby what are you doing?" He asked in return, Ruby was never the best liar, so it was clear when she was sweating.

"Nothing!" The speed at which it came out said otherwise.

"Weiss?" He turned and, if he could have, pinched the bridge of his nose, "Could you please tell me what is going on?"

"We're going after the White Fang and trying to find out any information about their activities."

"Weeiisss!" Ruby whined.

"What? We may as well tell them, it's not like they're going to squeal to Ozpin."

"True," he nodded in a quick phrase, "besides think of this as payback."

"Payback for what?" Yang asked.

"How about the time where you barged in the very first time we came here?"

Ruby poked her two index fingers together and chuckled nervously, "Ah-heh well…"

"Or the time where you made Brandon and Sam go on a tour of Beacon while me and Travis made our weapons? You sitting next to us in lunch and our classes to try and find out more about us? Or following us around campus with one of those microphones used on TV sets? Or the time you put a camera in that teddy bear? That was not cool by the way."

"Seriously?" Kylie looked to the Mandalorian, "They did all that and you still told them?"

"They were persistent," he gave a quick glance to Kylie and shrugged, then looked back to the group of Remnant natives, "we're coming along as well."

"I don't think that's a good idea Reese," Kylie tried to argue, "I mean Travis wanted us to-"

"Travis' little study group can do just fine without us," Reese cut her off, he paused and looked to her, a moment later her scroll buzzed.

 _~Put the textbook back in the room, I'll text Travis that we have to go to the library to find a book. It'll be fine.~_

How Reese sent a text without using his scroll was mystery too her, she came to the assumption there was some function in his helmet. "Fine," she ran back in the Team BBRS room and shoved the book under a bed where no one would look for it. "Let's do this."

"Uhh…" Ruby looked around at them, then to her team along with Sun and Neptune, "sure! The more the merrier, right guys?" Team RWBY sort of gave a halfhearted 'ehh', "Reese you could go with Weiss and me." Weiss sort of preened up a little, the smile was hard to notice, Ruby looked to Kylie, "and you are…?"

"Kylie," she introduced herself, "I believe we met when Travis had a date the other night and we all stayed to mock him."

"I thought you looked familiar," Blake said, "but I didn't recognize you with the…" Blake's eyes widened and her words trailed off as she noticed Kylie's dog ears. "You-you told us that you didn't have faunus where you're from Reese?!" It was hard to tell if she was angry, or excited.

"Wait," Neptune said confused, "where are they from?"

Through his helmet Reese let out a long sigh, "For f**ks sakes. Yang? Could you tell him?" She gave a thumbs up, "Good."

"You're Blake right?" The cat faunus nodded instinctively, "Okay, they told me about you and how you're...you know a faunus too." Blake almost would have been offended had she not be fixed upon the two ears atop the blonde's head. The girl who was supposedly from a world without faunus. "When I came to this world I found that these," her ears wiggled, "were on my head. I was so scared, I screamed, everything felt weird, I could hear things, and feel the air around them. I was so scared. Can I ask you for some pointers later on?"

It took a moment for her words to settle in, but they did reach her, "Yeah, yeah sure. What did you want to know?"

Kylie smiled, "It can wait Blake, it seems we have another task at hand."

"Quite," Reese said.

"Okay, so we're all in agreement on our objectives?" Ruby asked, "Reese comes with me and Weiss, Yang and Neptune go downtown, and Blake, Sun, and Kylie head to the White Fang warehouse. We'll meet with Yang after we're done and discuss what we gathered."

"Sounds good," Reese agreed, he looked to Kylie who looked conflicted. He leaned in, "It'll be fine, you won't have to go in unless you want to." He knew what Kylie was doing. Seeing firsthand the White Fang, a group highly scrutinized not only by Vale but especially _Atlas_ , would be rough.

"No, it's fine," she had to take a deep breaths between words and pushed a strand of hair back.

"Lead the way Ruby," Reese said.

"But wait, where are they from?" Neptune asked while being pulled out of the room by Yang.

"Don't worry, I'll fill you in," she told him.

 **-X-**

 _~We couldn't find the book, we'll be going to the library to find a different one.~Kylie_

Travis read the text while slowly pouring pure Electricity Dust into a beaker, Kendra's arm retracted when a small spark surprised the two of them.

"Well that's a little annoying," Travis said, but didn't think much on it as he went back to work.

 **-Later with Ruby, Weiss, and Reese-**

"Wow! I forget how big the transmit tower looks so close!" Ruby marveled at the feat of architecture and technology. A large structure capable of sending messages and retrieve information from long distances was incomprehensible to most.

" _Eh, I could go to Starbucks and do the same thing."_

Then again, the gap in technology between that of Remnant, and that of Earth, was rather large in this respect, but at least he kept it to himself out of respect for the people.

"You should see the one in Atlas," Weiss told Ruby, and to a degree Reese.

"That was the first one right?"

"Correct," Weiss told her like she was a student in class, "Atlas developed the cross-continental transmit system to allow the four kingdoms to communicate with one another. It was the gift to the world after the Great War."

" _We just sent money to them, that's always a nice apology. 'Hey sorry for kicking your ass, here's a f**kton of cash to keep off the commies.' Unless you're talking about the first, in which case we gave everyone the middle finger and taxed all their trades to shit and killed the economy of the world."_

"Ooo look at me, my name is Weiss, I know facts, I'm rich!" Ruby mocked with a regal tone. This was followed by childlike giggling of the highest regard.

"Besides, the only reason we're here is because you like to look at the tower so much," the Schnee chided. "We could've just as easily made a call from the library."

"I know but it's so cool! Oh, I'm going to take a picture!" Ruby pulled out her scroll

Reese came forward to Weiss' side while looking at Ruby "You needed the fresh air Weiss, anymore pale and someone might think you're a ghost," Reese said, Weiss' face deadpanned as if he said something incredibly stupid...to be fair he sort of did.

"Don't encourage her." The sound of Ruby's scroll bouncing across the stone walkway caught their attention. Reese winced seeing something resembling a phone drop to the ground. It was common knowledge that if a phone drops, the harder you wince the less likely it is to break. No one ever seems to wince hard enough though.

It bounced and flopped like fish out of water until it landed at some girl's feet. "Oh, you dropped this," she said looking back to Ruby.

Reese looked at the girl in front of them, something seemed odd about her. That unnatural stare, almost a robotic movements in her steps, and a tone that was unwavering in sound or decibel as if it were preset. " _Didn't Travis say something about a girl like that?"_

"Penny?" Ruby asked narrowing her eyes.

Certain words rang out in Reese's mind, Travis' words to be precise. " _Don't go anywhere near a red head girl named Penny. She'll act sweet, but then you'll find yourself on an operating table cutting off your limbs."_ A note was made to never let Travis watch horror movies...ever again.

How could a girl like this be a mass murderer? She seemed so sweet, so innocent, unsuspecting...crap maybe he had a point. That's what we don't want, Travis being right, he's a smug piece of shit when he is.

This 'Penny' girl started to stutter a bit and gawk at Ruby, confused about what to do. " _Perhaps she's more socially awkward than Ruby."_ Reese thought to himself.

"Where have you been?" Ruby was excited to see Penny again, she was worried when she disappeared that one night at the docks, "We haven't seen you since the night at the docks."

"S-sorry. I think you're confused," she immediately hiccuped and soon ran off saying, "I got to go."

" _Either she's awkward, or the worst liar...my bet is socially awkward."_

"What was that about? Weiss asked, shaking her head.

"I don't know," her partner replied, "but I'm going to find out. You go make your call, I'll meet up with you later!" Ruby started chasing after Penny.

"Wait!" Weiss called out, but it fell on deaf ears as Ruby continued her strides over to the redhead, "Ugh." It came out as a low guttural growl, one she was used to doing when around Ruby.

"Hey don't feel too bad," Reese chuckled, "I'm still here." Weiss gave a small smile, and the two promptly led the way into the CCT.

 **-X-**

"How long does it take to get to the god forsaken library?"

"I don't know, I don't go to this school, want me to go check?"

"No, I think they're just having trouble finding a decent physics book. This world is only superior to ours in few ways, we're pretty even in most. I will definitely say our internet is ten times better in speed and security too, for god's sake I could hack it, and I hate coding."

"Hey Travis, the dust is doing that thing again."

"Aw son of a bitch, let me see it."

 **-X-**

"Welcome to the Beacon Cross-Continental Transmit Center. How may I help you?" The holographic student who was working part time at the tower's front desk asked the duo of Weiss ad Reese.

"I need to make a call to Schnee Company World Headquarters in Atlas," Weiss told her.

"Absolutely," the woman started to type on her keyboard, "If you could head over to terminal three, I'll patch you through."

Weiss left with a thank you and Reese stepped up, the heiress was surprised that he didn't follow her.

"I just need access to a terminal," he said bluntly, the girl had to stop to understand. Between the communication system of the Tower and Reese's scratchy radio voice she had to think for a few seconds.

"Okay, I can do that. Terminal twelve is open."

"Thank you," his terminal was far from Weiss, he breathed a sigh of relief. With what he was about to do, it would be better to be as far away as possible. He sat down and removed his helmet, a long sigh was taken as he cracked his fingers which sounded like popping bubble wrap. "Okay Ironwood, let's see what you're you hiding?"

 **-X-**

"So any immediate tips or things I should know about?" Kylie asked as they approached the warehouse. Night had fallen on the kingdom, a semi black and blue hue colored the skyline with only the glow of the moon visible in the clouds.

"Don't say anything," Blake was quick to respond, ice slightly in her words, "don't do anything that would look stupid, and do not mention you're a student."

Kylie took a look at Blake, then to Sun who shrugged. "Got it," she said back, somewhat confused. The canine faunus turned to Sun again, "What's with her?"

"Don't know," the blonde monkey shrugged.

"Is she always like this with the Fang?"

"Sort of, but Blake has a tendency to be a bit…'Blakey'," Sun got around to saying it as they stopped at the wall of the warehouse. Three distinct claw marks were slightly glowing in the night, fluorescent paint clearly visible.

"This is it," Blake said ominously, she peaked her head over the corner and saw two youth faunus enter the neighboring warehouse led by an older gentleman.

"You sure?" Kylie asked, raising an eyebrow at Blake.

Blake gave a soft glare to Kylie, clearly she had not much experience when it came to the White Fang. Sun piped up, "Y'know, I'm just gonna take her word for it."

Blake took point as she removed her bow showing her feline ears to the cool night air, followed by Sun and Kylie. They easily got past the doorman, easily seeing their animal traits, and were given the common White Fang masks. Sun and Kylie both looked at the masks skeptically.

"I don't get it," Sun said looking at the white colored mask, "if you believe what you're doing is right, why hide who you are?"

"The masks are a symbol," Blake answered, "Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters."

"Grimm masks," Kylie breathed out, a sad expression as her fingers ran through it.

"It's kind of dark," Sun said.

"So was the guy who started it," Blake said, turning around and placing the mask on her face.

Sun sighed, and turned to his fellow blonde faunus, "It's always sunshine and roses with her isn't it?" To which Kylie gave a soft giggle and shrugged.

Along with the other new recruits, the three got nestled in with the other new recruits. While not nearly as nervous as the others. Blake had already been to many of these events, Sun was only hear because Blake was trying to get even with Torchwick, and Kylie was more curious about the White Fang. Even though there was a strong presence in Atlas, the Fang often had harder trouble trying to make a scene due to the huge military presence.

A tall man stood in the middle, a large banner with the symbol of the animalistic head with those three distinctive claws marks contrasting with the black background. His mask was much different, making look more important than the regular grunt.

"Thank you all for coming," the man's voice boomed. "For those of you joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours. I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for, for so long."

Out stepped a dapper looking man, orange hair covering his right eye, eyeliner on the left, a bowler hat with a feather on it, and a cane in his hand.

"So that's Roman Torchwick," Kylie harshly whispered to Blake and Sun as Torchwick started to thank everyone for being here and for the applause that didn't follow.

"Yep," Blake kept her words short.

"What's a human doing here?!" A deer faunus behind them demanded.

Torchwick's charismatic voice caught wind of the outburst and looked back to the girl, "I'm glad you asked dearie." The pun hurt just as bad as Yang's did. "Now, I'll be the first to admit, humans are the worst," Torchwick gave a mock gag at his own race and pointed to himself, "Case and point. So I understand why you would love to see us all locked away or better yet: killed."

Sun leaned in so both Kylie and Blake could hear him say: "So is, he going somewhere with this or…?"

"But I would like to mention that you and I all have a common enemy. The one's in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty rotten humans that run our kingdoms." Torchwick's words were starting to rile the crowd "Government. Military. Even the schools, they're all to blame for your lot in life." More in the crowd started to cheer, even some of the new recruits, "And they're all pest that need to be dealt with," Torchwick started to turn back toward the large piece of fabric, "fortunately I'm the best exterminator around. No offense to any rodents in the room." With a snap of his fingers the cloth dropped revealing a monstrosity.

A large mechanized creation, standing at least fifteen feet tall stood behind Torchwick, a camo paint job to make it blend in, and White Fang insignia on both of the arms. Kylie had only seen the creation few times, having their team so close to General Ironwood, they had got to see some of the more newer tech coming out of the prototyping labs. The Atlasian Paladin.

"Uh, that's a big robot," Sun took in the massive size, a bit dazed.

"How did he get that?" Blake asked, mainly at Kylie who was slightly slacked jaw.

"As some of you might have heard, this right here-" Torchwick smacked his hand against the hard metal armor, "is Atlas' newest line of defense against the scary things in the world. And thanks to my employer, we've managed to snag a few before they, uh, hit the shelves." The career criminal soon got onto the main point of his speech, "Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our operation in the south east. If you'd rather stay in the city, that's fine. But if you truly wish to fight for what you truly believe in, then this is the arsenal I can provide you with. Any questions?" He asked with a sly look taking in the crowd's boisterous reactions.

"We need to get out of here," Blake told the other two.

The large man from earlier came back on the stage. "Will all new recruits please come forward," his voice boomed. The other recruits, those not there to sabotage and gather information, as in all of them minus Blake, Sun, and Kylie, started walking forward.

"Welp," Sun said.

Kylie's eyes began shifting side to side, trying to find an easy way out of the warehouse. There wasn't any. She had to make an exit for themselves. Calmly she started to run her fingers over themselves, the feeling of water soon could be felt as condensations exponentially increased in her whole hand as if she stuck her hand in a sink. She would make themselves an exit.

 **-X-**

"I swear to god, if they don't get back to us within the hour, I'm going to go out there myself and drag them back by their earlobes."

"Will you drag Kylie by her dog ears or regular ears?"

"I don't know Franklin, I'm just getting anxious."

"Tell me about it, if you keep pacing Kendra, you might make a whole in the floor."

"Just keep playing solitaire Lavender."

"Hmph, stuck up bitch…"

 **-X-**

"Go," Kylie said, her scepter falling before she gripped it into place, "I'll create a distraction."

"You don't have to do that," Blake said, "we can find a way out together."

"He see's us," Sun whispered, noticing Roman's gaze, the monkey waved back only confirming the criminal's suspicions.

Kylie looked around, noticing a fuse box on the wall closest to them. "Use the window, Torchwick can't see in the dark."

"What are you doing-"

Blake was cut off as Kylie aimed the apex of her mace scepter at the fuse box and no sooner a jet of water shot out like a fire hose splashing against the box. Sparks of electricity sprung out eventually causing the box to short out, the lights followed suit turning everything to pitch black darkness.

"Go!" Kylie yelled.

"Sun the window!" Blake exclaimed in compliance.

"Stop them!" Torchwick cried out to the Fang. An errand strike, feeling like an elbow jabbed his way, knocked him. The criminal got a devious idea as he got back up, using the mech as a stepping stone. "Don't let them get away!" As he yelled it he climbed up the mech, feeling around for the cockpit. A low ominous groan echoed throughout the warehouse following after the sound of shattering glass.

The light returned, but it was the natural moonlight as the whole side of the warehouse was smashed into. Kylie ducked as brick and concrete came flying back at them, bouncing off the flailing arms of the paladin. When all the commotion had subsided, a large group of White Fang, both new and old, looked over at Kylie. One of their own, who they thought was joining their cause, was really a traitor, a backstabber, no better than a human. The blonde canine faunus cracked a small smile, a smile mixed with genuine soft joy that she was known for and a titch of arrogance. Being around people like Lavender and Kendra had made her more open to showing off. The three prongs on her scepter mace started to spin an orb of water forming. Her semblance was an elemental based one, the ability to manipulate water. 'Hydromancy', and by using a titch of Fire and Ice Dust, she had a large supply for it. She swung the mace around, the water forming a stream until it came back into a perfect sphere.

"Well," she asked, a large group forming around her, "who's first?"

 **-X-**

"You about ready?"

Weiss' voice nearly shook Reese out of his chair, thankfully he was able to close what he was working on. She didn't need to see multiple screens full of coding, encryptions, and warnings.

Reese grabbed his scroll which got done downloading all the data the others would need.

"Yeah, yeah," Reese said, standing up and cracking his back. He was greatly surprised to see it was pretty dark out. "How long has it been-"

"Just three hours," the white haired heiress answered.

"Oh, _just_ three hours," Reese somewhat mocked her, giving a smug smile while putting his helmet back on. The two began to depart the room, most had left and the room was primarily dark, only the moonlight illuminating partial spaces in the floor. Waiting for the elevator took a while, the silence made it more awkward for the two. "So…" his scratchy electronic voice began, "get everything you need?"

"Yes, with my connections no one asked what intentions I had," she waved off, a small smile present. "What about you? What were you hoping to accomplish?"

"Oh nothing, just...some basic research," Reese lied, thankfully she couldn't see his face. He wasn't the best liar, it was a blessing from the heavens that he was able to keep the main secret of their origin for so long.

"What kind of research requires coding?"

"You noticed?" Reese was starting to sweat, if she had any suspicion it might strain relationships, he wasn't doing something very legal. He had to come up with an answer, but not a straight face lie, that only made things more complicated. "Well, back Home I was into coding, silly I know. But I loved making programs, it's how I came up with all the functionality for my armor, albeit I was given access to some more advanced kits that pushed me along the way. I wanted to see how your world stacked up to it." Yeah, that was a believable answer.

"So, then how was it?"

" _Your security systems and antivirus are practically ten years behind, your internet speeds as borderline dial up, I swear to god you don't have mice, you're missing the f! #$%g spacebar, and you don't let me adjust the screen brightness. That last one is always a killer,"_ was what he wanted to say...but instead, "It was...fine, just a little behind ours. We've had a long time to improve on our wireless systems and use it for optimum use." " _Such as cat photos…"_

"Well I had to dodge a few questions about my family from the receptionist," Weiss groaned as the elevator finally came, a bright light illuminated the immediate area.

"You know, you'll have to face them eventually. Running away from them will only make it harder," Reese said.

"I know, it's just...difficult."

"Weiss…" Reese rolled his eyes behind his helmet, but made sure to exaggerate the head movement to make his point.

"It is! You try dealing with…" Weiss stopped, the look Reese was giving her through the helmet told her not to bring up such things. Thankfully before it turned south, her scroll started to buzz, "it's Blake." She pulled it up to her ear, "What did you find out?"

"Everyone!" Blake yelled through the receiving end, the call reaching all of the girls, "If you can hear this we need-"

"HELP!" The two heard Sun scream through the mike of the scroll.

Reese groaned, "What the hell did they do now?" The elevator dinged open, the two sprinted out while the rest of the message was relayed to them.

"They got a robot and it's really big!" Sun described, by the sound of his breath it appeared they were on the run. The wind and car horns could be heard passing by in the background.

"Oh…" Reese started, "well that ain't good."

"That Torchwick guy's in there...but not like it ate him, he's like controlling it somehow!"

"I believe the term is called 'piloting'," Travis would be proud to hear Reese had somewhat listened to his rambles on mechs and what not.

"Hurry!" The last scream from Sun. It sounded kind of desperate, maybe pitiful, a titch amusing if Reese had to be honest.

"You know, just for once, can you girls stop finding trouble?" Reese cracked a smile as they entered the cool night air as they left CCT tower.

"Hey, trouble finds them," Weiss snipped in response. They both ran into the night, judging by the background sounds during the call it sounded like Blake, Sun, and Kylie were on the freeway. That was pretty far from where they were so they would have to book it.

"I swear to god I hope Kylie isn't over head," he said under his breath, to Weiss it came off as incoherent mumbles. Reese had big news to tell the others, he just wanted to grab Kylie and get out of the fight, sure he would probably have to engage in the brawl, but that was to be expected nowadays. During Weiss' rather long call Reese had managed to hack into the Atlas military database, particularly Ironwood's ship servers. Their technology in cyber security was light years behind Earth's. He still used the best techniques he had learned years ago when he had his 'hacktivist' phase after people found out that the government was spying on its people. Occasionally when bored at school he would even hack into the computers there and screw with them. He only got found out once, and that was back when he was first starting and tried to change his grades. Boy that teacher was angry. But moving back to the point, when Reese was going through the various files, most of them practically useless ones. Who cares about a stupid legend about four seasonal maidens anyways? There was one single file that caught his eye and upon further inspection it warranted that it be copied down onto his scroll. Using his helmet he brought up the file and skimmed through it. The title words still imprinted in his mind.

" _Project Gaia"_

 **-X-X-X-X-X-X-**

 **So I need to talk to you guys about something, somewhat serious topic too. I'm not discontinuing this story if that's what you're thinking, I have a hard time of letting things go. But I am in college right now, and this story was written with character of people who I knew back in highschool. I will probably never see those people again as I didn't base them off my best of friends. It's weird to write from this perspective, knowing that your inspirations will never be seen again and you have to make assumptions based off what you did and didn't know. Who knows, maybe I'm overthinking it and being melodramatic, but I needed to get this off my chest. I don't know what will happen in the future, in terms of my life, this story, and the whole of RWBY. This show has been my foray back into anime and writing, I originally wrote shitty Bionicle and Pokemon stories. Now I write mediocre RWBY stories with crossovers between those two franchises, it's been odd to say the least, I never really thought I would write again when I got to a certain age. If you got this far I congratulate you for listening to my ramblings and as a bonus I'm going to give you a little late-Christmas present. It's the least I can do for you readers who have stuck around this long. Without further ado I present to you….**

 **-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-**

On a white backgrounds fall multiple letters with four tiny, chibi version of Brandon, Travis, Reese, and Sam. With his jetpack Reese jumps on top of the letter 'F', Sam sits down cross legged under a big 'B' taller than all the letters on the far right hand end with smile on his face, Travis being the cool guy he tried so hard to be leaned in between the upper case 'F' and a lowercase 't', and Brandon stood tall with his sword pointed in to the ground with blank expression. The letters went in an order as follows: F-t-B-R-t-B

 _Children Voices:_ "From the Band Room to Beacon Chibi!"

With their announcement a pinkish white word that spelled 'Chibi' came slamming into the side.

 _-First Skit: Splitting Headache-_

Chibi Travis was in a clearing with some trees, and a bunch of logs with Brandon

 _Travis:_ "So remind me again why I'm chopping wood here?"

Brandon: "Easy, you have an axe, you can chop wood."

 _Travis:_ "Why not ask Professor Port? He has an axe?"

 _Brandon:_ "He might attack the logs and say he conquered his greatest enemy yet: Nature."

 _Travis:_ "(Slight pause)...True very true."

 **Time Skip to night**

Travis walks into a common room with Brandon, Yang, and Blake sitting comfortably. There is a large bundle of firewood on his back that collapses as he falls to the ground utterly tired.

 _Travis_ : "Alright *huffs and puffs*, I'm done."

Brandon looked at the firewood. "Oh you still doing that? I thought I told you we didn't have a fireplace."

Travis' head snapped up. "What?"

 _Yang:_ "Yeah, we use electric heating."

 _Travis:_ "So you mean to tell me all that work went for nothing?"

 _Brandon:_ "Ah don't worry I'm sure we'll find a use for the logs."

Travis' eye started to twitch, his neck too. He glanced at the logs, then to Brandon who was reading a book, then to the logs, and back to Brandon. "Yes, I'm sure we will." He picked up a log and- "GAH!"- charge at him with a log in hand.

-Screen wipe to a few seconds later with siren lights in the windshield, Blake and Yang given statements to police, Brandon unconscious with the chair he was in fallen over and a really large bump on his head. Travis was being taken away by the Junior Detective Duo.

 _Travis:_ "It was worth it!"

 _-Transition: Chibi Reese come calmly walking in from the side firing multiple shots from his pistols, he then flips then around his finger and gives a smug smile...only to smack his gun into his helmet which dents it. He gets so angry from the dent he ignites and burns the orange background away.-_

 _-Second Skit: Heist of the Century-_

It is night in the city, Reese is currently scaling the side of a building, he calmly opens the window and jumps through. In the pristine hallway lies a pedestal with a chocolate bar on it. But not any regular candy bar. It's the 'Super-Mega-Ultra-Bonafide-Goodie-Goodie Chocolate Bar', said to be the most delicious bar of candy on the planet. The issue was that it was behind layer after layer of laser trip wires. Reese got to work. Maneuvering his body around the wires like some kind of cat faunus, jumping over and immediately ducking under another, going full limbo only to fall onto the ground due to his skills being garbage at best, but it was all worth it if it meant getting the world's most delicious candy bar. Finally he had reached the bar, but before he grabbed it, in true Indiana Jones fashion he grabbed a sack and carefully, decisively swapped the places with the candy bar. Now in his hand he removed his helmet revealing his face and removed the wrapper. Opening the packaging he took the biggest bite out of the candy bar. It took him a few bites to realise something was wrong. He looked at the inside of the candy bar and gasped.

 _Reese:_ "Almonds?! WHY?!" However by screaming out, he tripped the alarms which illuminated the room and all cameras focused on him. "Aw shit."

 _-Transition: A skipping Coco goes across the screen, comes back and skips right to the front of the camera lens. She lowers her glasses and gives it a wink and places the glasses over the lens of camera swallowing it into darkness.-_

 _-Third Skit: The Perfect Date-_

 _Coco:_ "Sammy how do I look?"

Sam rolled his eyes as Coco twirled in a dress while in the changing room. "Eh fine as always."

Time rolled along and Coco kept trying on outfits.

 _Coco:_ "Ooh, what about this?" She looked to Sam who was holding a single shopping bag.

 _Sam:_ "Not too bad."

 _Coco:_ "How about this" She looked in the mirror with Sam now holding three bags and looking a bit strained.

 _Sam:_ "Perfect, now can we go-"

Coco interrupted Sam, not even noticing. "This looks nice."

A now five bag holding Sam as the date went on, "Please Coco let's go."

 _Coco:_ "Ooh, Stacy's, they have new inventory. Let's go check it out Sammy."

Soon Sam was holding around ten shopping bags… well more like buried by ten shopping bags. Finally Coco came stepping out of the changing room ready and content.

 _Coco:_ "Okay I'm done, let's go pay." She then noticed Sam's predicament, "Sammy?"

Sam's head popped up from the mountain of bags and looked up at Coco, only to notice that she was carrying another shopping bag. He practically fainted on the spot.

 _Coco:_ "Okay next time we can go on your perfect date." She started walking, "But I'll have to buy new clothes for that."

Upon hearing this Sam's head fell back down to the ground with a dying sigh, "Why me?"

 _-End-_

 **As always,**

 **See ya later suckers**


	18. Chapter 18: Melted Ice

**Author's note: Wassup bitches? Important announcement: It's the one year anniversary of this story! (cue the fanfare and party balloons) I don't have anything to celebrate that but hey...just wanted to announce. If you've read it, followed it, favorited it, left a review thank you for doing so after all these chapters. Obviously I will try to continue to write for this story, but between college and other stories it just gets to be a mess. I write here, write there, not to mention a smidgen right over there. Well Vol 5 ended, and I can certainly say that this was the weakest out of the season (I daresay Vol 1 was better than this one). To me, and this in my uneducated and worthless opinion, a ton of dialogue was forced, there was weak motivations for characters like Hazel, Raven was completely unrelatable as a character and her dialogue about strength pissed me off, and that scene with Blake talking about word association made me leave for ten minutes to cry. There was good things though about this season, I will say that. We had a few decent fight scenes like maiden rumble, the last half of the Belladonna house fight (the first half was really bad if you ask me). There were glimmers of Monty's fighting style of animation in there, but only glimmers and I hope we see more of that. The death scare with Weiss had me taking a thirty minute walk and then made me rewatch it just for that scene (that was a damn good scene). And yeah I guess the twist with Raven being the Spring Maiden was cool, still didn't make me like the character though.**

 **-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-**

Chapter 18: ...Melted Ice. Try to do a Pun, Didn't Really Work, I Regret it.

 **-Six Months Ago, Atlas Academy-**

"Whathehellwhatthehellwhathehell?!" Kendra asked nervously as she paced around the lobby of the hospital, surrounded by multiple armed guards at every doorway, exist, and hallway. Franklin hadn't looked up in a good fifteen minutes and Lavender was trying to act casual but was utterly failing, her foot just about denting the floor beneath her with all its tapping.

"Calm down Kendra," it was more for Lavender's sake than for the senior high schooler, but the sentiment was what counted.

"How can I calm down Lav'?!" Kendra replied, "Kylie has dog ears! Dog ears Lavender! Right atop her head! How did we miss something like that?! And how the f^&k did she get them?!"

"At least they're cute ones," Franklin tried to ease the mood, but only got a stern glare in return, "sorry."

"What I want to know is what that hoity-toity general guy is asking her?" Kendra strained her neck to try to see what, and where, General Ironwood and Kylie were talking about. After Kylie fainted seeing her new appendages atop her blonde colored head, the general waited until she woke up to hear her side of the story. Kendra made the other two keep tight lipped on the subject and she did all the talking.

"Kendra sit down, you're worrying me," Lavender told her, patting the seat next to her, a magazine in the junior girl's hand. Some trashy fashion magazine by the looks of it.

While she wanted to stand, her legs were tired, her mind was flustered, and her stomach grumbled from quite possible the longest days of her entire life. And that included the day Samuel got his foot stuck in the Tuba bell. Stupid cousin of hers anyways.

" _Shit,"_ she thought finally coming upon the realization, " _Sam."_ Her cousin, Brandon her good friend, that one asshole Travis, and that one tall fellow who's name she couldn't remember at the time. They were all caught in the blast. She hoped that they got to safety.

Or was that the right mentality?

Would it be better if Brandon and his group were there? With them, to ride out this storm together and stick together? That would first mean needing to find them. Surely they could still call them and see if they were alright? Right?

"We tried calling them," Lavender said, when Kendra posed the question she thought that something might go their way. It would've been nice if _something, anything_ could go their way but alas it appeared not. "We have no signal, and no internet with our phones. Essentially we're stranded in this place."

No service? No internet? But they were in a hospital, with modern day equipment and even some fancier looking versions of what they had. The soldiers carried a weapon more advanced than most firearms back on Earth, true they looked like Stormtroopers and had the effective aim of one, but they had fancy looking rifles that shot out energy projectiles. Kendra even swore she saw the General talking into a holographic device earlier and saw some tablet like device in some of the soldiers hands. So they obviously had somewhat better technology. Hell, those bullheads they flew in on were kinda cool, even if Franklin how to be forced into it and pulled out of it because he feared for his life. Who knew he had a fear of flying?

Her thought would come later as General Ironwood walked out, his arms behind his back and crossed over one another. His face, while not overly stone cold, was gazing over the three teenagers sitting in the hospital lobby, bewilderment on their faces. His eyes wandered to the soldiers covering all the exits and hallways, they even were forced to check if the doctors and nurses were who they said they were. No doubt it caused this feeling of unease for the hospital staff and the other three. With his gloved hand he reached up and adjusted his tie, clearing his throat.

"You three are coming with me," they were some of the first words spoken directly to Kendra and the others since Kendra first told the General about their origins. That meeting ending shortly after with the General politely 'forcing' them into sleeping at the school's guest room...or barracks in this case. Ironwood was heading to the exit when Kendra stood up, the other two locked in position.

"And what about Kylie?" Kendra asked, not even caring about the fact she was just a civilian and he was a military leader.

"My men will be looking after her," he said turning around to face Kendra directly. Shortly after he turned back.

Kendra, not satisfied, dashed after him, "Umm excuse me? I don't know if you noticed but your 'men' kind of had an adverse reaction when they saw Kylie. I don't know if it's a good idea to leave them with her."

"Miss…." it took him a minute to remember for her name, "Kendra, are you implying that my men would engage in any misconduct? Be it discriminatory or otherwise?"

"Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying," while the answer came out quickly, her mind took time to process what Ironwood truly said. "I would much rather prefer if we stayed here tonight with her."

"Then what? Let you run off into the world never to be seen again?"

"We don't really know we are," Lavender pointed out, even if the general didn't believe it he sure would if he tried to find them should they run. "And besides…" she pointed to Franklin.

"You impounded my f! #$%g truck!" The amount of time Franklin had been wanting to yell that out was hours upon hours, letting it bubble up inside of them like a nasty sore or zit. Some of the guards took a cautious step, some even reaching as the temperature in the room was heating up. "Seriously you jackass, why the hell you'd take my car?!"

"You should refrain from that sort of language kid," a soldier said.

"Oh trust me, I'm going to use whatever the f&*k language I damn well please," Franklin shouted back. "If you are going to have us go with you, then bring Kylie. No use in trying to split us up. Unless you're trying to kill us off one by one or some sort of sick shit like that."

"I assure you I am not going to kill you," Ironwood rolled his eyes, what idiocy this kid was spouting. "I'll leave you with some cots, we'll be talking in the morning, they'll bring you to my office."

"Fine," Kendra spat, she really didn't want to be moving around too much with these soldiers. The first thing she did was run for Kylie, blowing past the guards and nearly ripping the door off its hinges. Lavender sighed, but totally understanding her worries.

"When will this nightmare end?"

 **-Present Day-**

The grunts felt their bodies slam into the unyielding metal, a jet force of water colliding with them. It was dark within the remnants of the warehouse, only the night sky providing any amount of light and even that was miniscule at best. No one really knew what happened or why, they only saw a blast of water hit the fuse box, it go up in sparks, two people break through the window, and then the Paladin that was shown off minutes ago plowing through the wall leaving the gaping hole.

"Get the recruits out of here!" Yelled the leader who showed up, his taller figure standing above the crowd by a whole head it seemed. "We got a huntress here!"

On cue Kylie blasted a stream of water that propelled her to the large opening, shoulder checking a few grunts in the process though it messed up her footing and her last few steps were a tad uneasy. Maybe wedges weren't the optimum choice like how Reese had commented earlier, but what did he know in fashion? He looked like a damn space cadet with an insecurity complex. Another grunt, another swing of her mace landing on his cheek sending him into the stone wall, a small cry of anguish that sounded a little pathetic in all honesty. Some of these activist weren't really cut out for this kind of work.

Her dog ears twitched at the sudden sound of someone from up above coming down, along with a motor buzzing. When she looked up she saw the leader of the rally, the lieutenant, diving on her from above with a massive chainsaw weapon. With fluid movements she dodged out of the way, sparks ricocheting from the pavement as he brought the weapon back up. The other grunts had backed off, letting the leader and objectively the strongest deal with this traitor, this blight, this huntress. The time for words and speeches had come to a close, they both knew that, with a flip of her mace she brought it parallel with ground, raised above her shoulder. A fierce look in her eyes, still the mask of the Fang covering them, hiding her disdain, her hatred, yet her sorrow as well. Why couldn't this have ended peacefully? Like they had planned? They weren't soldiers, or hunters, they never were. They were just regular kids thrusted into this position. When would this nightmare end?

 **-Six months ago, Atlas-**

"Ow," Kylie shot out, a quick reaction as she felt a sharp tug on her left ear, her hand recoiled back and nearly dropped the comb in her grasp. That was the second time that had happen before getting ready for class. She shook her head and raised the comb back up, only a mild irritation reminding her of the pain she previously just experienced. There was a knock on the door. "Come in."

The door slowly swung open revealing her good friend and fellow student, Kendra, in her Atlas Academy uniform. Her brunette hair in her classic ponytail, "Hey, just need to brush," she said with little fanfare. The daily routine as it always was. Kendra began to brush her teeth, the mirror just wide enough for the two of them to see each other in the reflection. "You ready?" She asked after spitting out the toothpaste.

"It's our second week Kendra," Kylie reminded, getting the golder strands of her hair just right, "I think I've been ready since last week when we started."

"You know what I mean."

She did, but Kylie didn't wish to dwell on it, "First physical training, I'm _so_ excited." She gave a weak cheer at the end.

"It's gonna suck, we're all going to die,' Kendra shuddered.

"No we're not, we're going to be tired for sure, but the general knows we don't have this kind of background."

"Doesn't mean he'll go easy on us," Kendra rebutted, "come on we should get going." She walked out of the bathroom door where she saw- "Franklin, for the last time you cannot wear cargo shorts to school, we have a uniform!"

"Awe, come on, I hate pants!" Came the shout of the only male in the team, Kylie's team, her friends. But not her only friends.

"Please be safe," she whispered, "at least until we find you." What little hope she still had, was going towards that, towards them.

 **-Present Day-**

Reese's feet landed softly on the asphalt road of the freeway overpass, a large stretch of road beneath him and Weiss, cars rocketing past more than usual for fear of what was behind them.

"They weren't kidding," Reese breathed out, awe inspired by what he saw. A hulking beast of metal standing at least fifteen feet tall and nearly the same wide, it moved sleekly with heavy thunderous footsteps that he could feel reverberating in his stomach, his field of view shaking with every step. If only there weren't a scum like Roman Torchwick piloting it. He had only heard the stories from the news, and the likes of Team RWBY. Sam didn't have much to say when the two had fought back at the docks last semester. "What do we do?" He asked the white haired girl, she too was staring at the road.

"We wait for a signal from Ruby, they should be coming soon," she stated, eyes darting between the flood of cars in a maddash.

"What's the signal?" He asked, he leaned forward but when he stepped forward he noticed that his foot was stuck but a spit of ice. "The f! k is this Weiss?"

"I'm need you to leave this to us Reese, you weren't supposed to come along and now that we have to I don't want you getting hurt."

"I came along willingly Weiss, asking me to stay here is sort of the opposite of what I came for. You'll need all the help you can get."

"I know, and you're great on lookout, and I need you to do that. If you're down there you'll just be an easy target, we'll have to cover you."

"And Neptune, Sun? I guess you don't care if they get hurt or…" He trailed off making his point.

"They are on the same team, you're all alone here. If Travis or any of the others were here I'd be fine with it. We just don't want you getting hurt."

While the sentiment was nice, it felt like a total betrayal of their relationship. Reese paused wishing he had reworded that correctly, but at the moment he was still peeved at it. " _We_ don't want me getting hurt? Or is it _you_ that doesn't want to see me getting hurt?" Reese made to angle his head just enough so Weiss could see his eyes through the black visor of his helmet. "Whether you like it or not Weiss, I'm here, I signed up for fighting when I came along. So let me the f% &k out and let help you." His voice, coupled with the modulator in the helmet, sounded like a beast growling.

"Hurry I'm in position!" The voice of Ruby yelled over the scroll, both Weiss and Reese heard it in their respective devices.

Weiss took a few steps back, approaching the wall of the overpass, "Just keep a look out for us, please." With her ending words she sunk down slightly and leaped off the edge of the overpass, doing a backflip in the process.

Reese looked back, reaching for his pistols noticing how close the paladin was coming towards him. If he could just break free of these stupid ice shackles, they f! #$%g ran up all the way down his legs. Even his semblance would take a while to melt it, he didn't have complete mastery of it quite yet. The thundering footsteps came closer. "God f! #$%g dammit!" He shouted combining the two pistols into their rifle configuration, pulling up the sights, and firing a rapid volley at it. The light red energy practically bouncing off the thick metal armor, there were few exposed points except for the joints which were tough to crack through. It looked like Ironwood had done his homework on these things, Travis is going to want details the nosy little bastard.

 **-Somewhere Beacon-**

"Achoo!"

"Catching a cold Travis?"

"No, just got a weird feeling I was mentioned, and I feel giddy about something."

"Let's just get back to the experiments."

"Sure, this will be our last go around before I call it a night, Kendra is still freaking out about Kylie and Reese."

"I'm going to be grilling Reese as well."

"Get in f! #$%g line man, get in line."

 **-Freeway-**

Reese kept firing shots, trying to concentrate on a single area, what looked like a missile rack. Perhaps if he heated up the metal it would set off whatever ordinance was inside. Clip after clip of dust fell to the ground only to be replaced by another. He would run out soon, and as much as he wanted to blow up the mech with Torchwick inside, he needed to conserve should he actually need to fight. He lowered the gun and looked to the ice that kept him anchored to the pavement. His focus on the ice noticed that it started to slowly melt and soon enough it was a puddle. "Good," but the moment he said that he lost control and his leg erupted into flames. "Dammit!" He groaned, the flames going away, at least he was able to stop it. It could have been the other way around.

When Reese looked back he saw the mech charging right at Weiss, and she was just standing there in the middle of the road. Instincts told him to jump, and he was part way over when he saw Weiss jab her blade into the ground, covering it in slick ice. Torchwick's paladin was not made for that kind of movement and the sudden change caused the mechanical monster to lose its footing. The paladin dove head first into a massive tumble where it broke past the barrier of the roadway. Where he couldn't exactly make out, but he would find them, he was sure about that.

 _*Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep*_

Something in the motion tracker on his helmet started to go haywire, an enemy was all around him. He only heard the sound of a pebble move to give him an idea of where it was coming from. His domed head ducked under a sudden kick, trying to send him to the freeway below. The boot that tried to knock his block off was white, laced, and heeled. A female's for sure, any guy willing to wear that had more endurance than a monk stuck in a brothel. Jumping back he separated his rifle back into two pistols and fired rounds from the attack came from. A blur of pink, white, brown weaved between the gunfire like it was nothing. It got him incredibly frustrated and his brow twitched. First Weiss, and now this, it all it did was get him hot under the collar.

However, in his anger he failed to notice something coming at his face and got whacked with it. Reese sprawled, propping himself up with the guardrail, letting out a quick exhale of pain as he finally got to look at his ambusher.

A small, diminutive girl with pink and brown hair that cascaded down her neck. Her eyes, mismatched, colored the same as her hair. A parasol in her hands slowly coming back after the swing that knocked Reese's brain a bit. A creepy smile on her face, of sadistic, crazed, and murderous intent.

"What the hell is wrong with you girl?" He asked, massaging the domed armor helmet where she had struck, partially checking for dents, "That could have hurt dammit!" His words were not acknowledged as the girl sped up to him and delivered a kick to the sternum. "The f! k is with you?!" He yelled, seriously his swearing was getting to be as bad as Travis' if he didn't watch it.

She didn't stop either, constantly trying to get in, a relentless onslaught that kept forcing him back. Away from the battle, from Weiss, from Torchwick.

"You're with him aren't you?" He pieced together, finally ducking under a swing of her foot and regained his composure. He slammed two clips into his pistols that were strapped to his legs for ease of access. "Well ice cream girl, come at me."

 _*Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep*_

The sudden noise startled Reese and he brought up his arm in defense to block a kick that he had no idea was coming. The force though sent him off the overpass onto the road where there were no cars or trucks, all of them blocked or turned over. " _How the hell?"_ She had been right in front of him earlier, then just appeared the next moment. Firing up his jetpack he landed safely on the damaged road, paladin footmarks could be seen tearing up the road along with metal shrapnel from the crashed cars. The girl fell down and gracefully landed, her feet landing like a cat. What the hell was she?

"I don't suppose we can talk about this?" He tried to reason, raising up both pistols the moment she had landed. A coy smile appeared on her lips, then she shook her head keeping a quiet persona. "Well, don't say I didn't try," and he shot at the girl.

 **-X-**

Sparks flew off the clash of the chainsaw and the mace, the flanged edged brushing off the motorized chain's blows. Both Kylie and the White Fang member jumped back, she was tired, her breathing was staggered.

"Traitors will be punished," the lieutenant uttered, not at all worn out like Kylie was getting. He rushed in and swung down the massive blade but only to be pushed off by the scepter in Kylie's hands.

Using her semblance she summoned a sphere of water at the apex of the three prongs and swished it around, keeping form when it stopped moving. The two clashed again but every time their weapons connected a bit of water would splash onto each others. The more water that was spilled was easily replaced by the Dust inside Kylie's weapon. The lieutenant went in for another strike, going overhead straight for Kylie's head. The chainsaw was then caught in the middle of the three prongs, the motorized chain spilling more water than Kylie could replace. The water sphere broke and didn't return with sparks flying as metal against metal grinding up against one another.

But then it just stopped.

The noise, the sparks, the saw had stopped, waterlogged and damaged from the inside. The constant spilling of water eventually got into the wires and circuits, shorting them out. The Fang member eased his weapon from the assault to look at what happened, giving Kylie enough time. The first swing knocked the weapon out his hand, sending it to the floor with clang, the second swing came as Kylie dropped her shoulder while charging in using the cylindrical hilt to give his kidneys and livers one hell of a time as the hilt struck him in his lower side. He reeled back and received another blow, from the prongs up above striking him in his head, barely too as he had nearly two feet on her. This time he practically fell to the floor clutching his head, she was a little surprised it wasn't split open.

"Get her!" He yelled and out poured the grunts armed with firearms and the like.

There were definitely too many for her to handle on her own so she started to make a break for it, turning around she sent a jet of water to blast the closest faunus in the face. His body recoiling back into the pavement. Giving one last look at the group of faunus, the White Fang, the misguided freedom fighters, the terrorists that they were she felt a tear stream down her cheek. A sudden geyser of water propelled her forward far away from them. From there she went into a full on sprint, which lasted for what seemed like an eternity.

"Hey Kylie!" She heard, making her jump, she turned and saw Sun and his blue haired friend at a raman stall of all things with their weapons. "What's with the tears?"

Kylie ran her hand over her face, feeling the wet droplets on her face. When she removed them she put on a brave smile, but one that felt forced, one that felt familiar. 'Faunus', 'freak', 'traitor', she had heard all those names before and they still stung like they used to. "Nothing Sun," she replied through strong resolve, "nothing." When would this nightmare end?

 **-X-**

"This is a goddamn nightmare!" Reese shouted, firing potshots behind him as he flew through the lines of crashed cars. Everytime he looked back she was advancing on him, even though he was propelled. It seemed like she could just blink right behind him at a moment's notice. When he looked back to the foreground he was surprised as the girl's face was approaching him. "The f! k?!" He was sent to the ground with a swing of her foot. When he tried to get up he was met by a strike from a rather painful parasol hitting him on the dome.

"Gah!" He cried out, getting all the more furious. Another swing hit him, swinging from the side smacking across his armored helmet. Just because it was armored and protected by aura didn't mean he couldn't feel pain. He was definitely going to be bruised in the morning, Brandon was going to grill him to no tomorrow. "Okay you bitch," Reese loaded a second clip into his guns and didn't even bother aiming. The flashes of gun fire passing by one after another as he let loose, he could see bits of asphalt and metal going up in the gunfire. When it was over the ends of his guns were emitting smoke, holes decorated the ground like a construction crew got really drunk with a jackhammer. Somewhere in that analogy was an innuendo. "Where'd you go?" He asked himself, scanning over once again.

 _*Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep*_

Once again he was caught off guard by the motion tracker set in his helmet, the beeping honestly too high pitched for his liking but it came like that when he tore it from a bullhead when making the suit. Yes, he destroyed plenty of property making his Mandalorian inspired armor, there was a reason why he hid it from everybody in the tarp. Thousands of dollars went into it, he had no clue the exchange rate for Lien so he stuck with the old currency. Reese whipped around just in time to block a strike with his arm. Unfortunately for him the girl who he now got an up close and personal look at. She had a mixed and matched hair color of both pink and brown. She was small, like good lord she could've looked three years younger than he did or even say Lavender or Kendra. Her eyes were what caught his attention because lord knows he tried not to look down at her body. Like her hair they were pink and brown again, but when she blinked he noticed they switched positions which honestly freaked him out a tiny bit.

His thoughts on her freaky looking eyes would have to wait for later as the girl gripped his arm tightly and pulled it down catching him by surprise. Reese stumbled forward walking into a kick which due to her flexibility landed straight into his neck knocking the wind out of him, he clutched it while she cartwheeled and flipped behind him. Giving a sneer he spun around and fired three more shots from one of his pistols trying to catch up to her, but missed every single one. Reese could feel himself growing hotter and hotter the longer this was going on, he had to be careful or he would lose control again. Keeping his eye on the girl he jumped in the air, propelling himself farther with his jetpack. It allowed to him to get a better view of the battlefield, she was pink, white, and brown she sure stuck out in the midst of dark pavement and dark colored cars.

He conjoined the two pistols into the rifle and aimed down the sights, trying to keep her in line for a shot. She was fast, but there was definitely a pattern to her movements, that coupled with more technology that he 'liberated' from Remnant, Reese was able to predict his movements. He squeezed the trigger and-

 _*Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep*_

A sharp pain intruded into his back knocking him down straight to the ground, painfully at that too.

" _How the hell can she get the drop on me?"_ Reese asked, he tried to get up but he felt a heel land on his back.

Just for the shit of it he looked up at the girl, damn if she hadn't beaten him up he might've thought she was cute. The moment her eyes turned stark white though it all went out the window, along with her raising a hidden blade from the hilt of parasol.

" _Well f! K."_

 **-Six Months Ago, Atlas Academy-**

"Apple! Detention after school today, three hours!"

"Man, f! k off! There treating my teammate like shit! Why don't you do your job and look out for your students?" Franklin asked, standing up in front of the entire class. Maybe the third time week this had happened, even Kendra's patience was growing thin. She was personally thinking of pulling Franklin aside.

"You dare use that sort of language at me?! I will see it that you don't even get a minute of time to spend on yourself!"

"I thought the General was a pain in the ass, but you're worse. I've met a lot of pricks in my life, but you are a f! #$%g cactus!" Some of the students watching who weren't off put or annoyed by Franklin's little outbursts were actually worried about was going to happen.

"Franklin," came the meek and quiet voice of his teammate, Kylie, she looked hurt and a small tear in her eyes. While meant to calm him down, the sight only made him more furious. His teeth gritted with a sneer almost capable of smashing his teeth if he did it any harder. He was about to go violent before Kendra stood up.

"Instructor, it appears you cannot protect your students, because of that I am invoking the No-Confidence Rule in page one hundred and twelve, paragraph two. For that, the General will know of all the incidents involving our teammate and your inability to stop them. C'mon, Team KKLF, we're leaving," with a silent room Kendra began to leave the room followed by the others.

"The General will want a full report on this! Do not think I will not spare the details of your teammate's outburst disrupting the class!"

Kendra turned to the red faced teacher, keeping a stone like face, "If you think I'm afraid of the General then you're wrong, how can I fear someone who fills his academy with people like you." Once they were out, and they knew they were far enough away not to be heard, Kendra broke down. There was only so much she could take. When would this accursed nightmare just end?

 **-Freeway, Present-**

"So I take it, you're with Torchwick?" Reese asked, his scratchy voice coming through as he looked up at the sharpened tip of the blade. No answer came, only a nod. "Really? You can't even answer me when I'm about to die? Well I guess we both get to be disappointed about something."

Before she brought certain death to Reese he fired his jetpack off pulling her leg along with him to make her lose her footing and fall over. Yet he didn't let go, dragging her along and then dropping her into a car crashed alongside the road. He heard the heavy thump and then went off to meet back up with Weiss and give her an earful. But that's when he felt something stab him, off to his side. When he looked back he saw the thin metal blade piercing his side slightly, not enough to go through the whole of his body but enough to hurt like hell. When he looked around he saw the girl standing as if nothing had happened, the car didn't even have a dent in it. It was like she never even touched it. His face twitched all the more, feeling his body becoming unbearable warm, his armor trapping the heat in. He felt the metal be pulled out from his side and let out a small exhale of pain, and then looked to see her body twist around send a kick fly towards him.

" _Son of a bitch,"_ he thought before he saw it make contact.

The force was enough to send him over the railing, towards the ground where he saw the paladin. "Well," he said to himself almost in a cartoonishly ironic fashion, "this is going to suck." The ground came at him and it all went black.

 **-X-**

Seeing Reese fall from the sky between Ruby and the Paladin was certainly harrowing, but perhaps no more seeing him not get back up.

"Reese!" Weiss shrieked.

The others were confused as to what to do, even Torchwick in the mech had stopped his approach, although that could be mixed in with the effect that the mech was missing an arm by this point. A handicapped mech versus four huntresses in training were not the most favorable. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to take advantage of the situation. The mech lumbered forward, mini thunderous footsteps sounded off as it approached them. The Paladins had no speech enabled in them, so to make a message Torchwick parked the mech in front of the prone Earthling, and raised a foot over his body. The message was received.

One step and Reese was going to be killed.

This was something Ruby had no idea she was going to have to prepare for, or even think about. This was a hostage situation now, although Weiss really wanted in, she was fidgeting thinking about what was going to happen.

But most surprising was when he started to get back up, slowly he propped himself up. However he appeared to not be aware of the situation around him and with Torchwick noticing his on the fly hostage situation fall apart, brought the foot down on his body.

"Reese!" All four of Team RWBY yelled, before a small explosion blinded them.

When Team RWBY looked back they saw the Paladin several steps away and Reese covered head to toe in fire. Nothing too new as they had seen his semblance before but something seemed off about him. He just stood there, swallowed by the flames. With the Paladin far enough back, they girls walked up to him.

"Reese are you alright?!" Ruby frantically asked him.

There was a no response from him, he seemed to be in this trance almost, his head tilting back and forth. Blake's ear twitched after it picked up something low that sounded like Reese, "Hold on," she said getting a tad bit closer to his flaming body but not close enough to burn her. "He's saying something.

"Not yet...needs me...she needs me," she heard faintly and then repeated for the group.

Immediately Yang jumped to conclusion and through a scandalous grin to Weiss, "Looks like someone snuck their way into an alien's heart. How does it feel Weissy?"

"Please," she shot back with as much snark as she usually carried, "not now."

"Is he okay?" Blake asked as he continued to stand there.

Before they could answer though the steps of the Paladin barreling down to run them over were heard. Getting back into position Team RWBY prepared for another round, but it was a line of fire that sped forward that made the first move. One moment Reese was there, the next he was on top of the mech, burning and all. The contrast could be seen immediately as Reese placed a hand onto the metal plating warping it due to the immense heat. Whatever his Semblance could do, it also gave him protection from fire it seemed. Grabbing a piece of the warped metal he ripped off a siding on the missile rack, then he felt a whoosh of wind before getting slammed into a concrete pillar. Reese fell once again, but getting back up immediately, a crack visible in his visor spewing a flame like the rest of his body.

And then his helmet fell off.

Even from far away it was possible to tell what it was, up close for Torchwick it was mildly terrifying just in the respect that it was beyond natural. Without his helmet you could see Reese's face, or the lack thereof. Where Reese's face should have been was engulfed in flames, his flesh gone, his muscles missing, empty eye sockets and gritting teeth. As only the skull remained. Appearing more aware of everything now he cracked his knuckles and neck, a bit of his spine visible if you looked directly from above.

"Well then Torchwick," he said his voice giving off a grainy tone even without the helmet, "you ready to deal with the devil?"

Reese sped off once again landing on the front of the machine, right in front of where the cockpit and placed his hand on the front. He poured all his heat into it, he couldn't beat the mech with brute force, so he was going to force the master thief out. Even though the metal plating was thick, he could hear the beeping from inside along with a robotic voice from inside the box saying _-Warning: Internal Temperature Rising-._ All it took was a matter of time. However that was something Torchwick was not willing to let happen. Like last time he tried to squash Reese like the bug he so rightfully thought he was, but becoming aware of everything around him he maneuvered his body around so the front smashed right into a pillar. The metal in the front became scrunched and damaged leaving small openings in the creases. Gripping it tightly Reese was able to warp the metal enough to peel back the armor revealing the master thief to the fiery monster.

"Hello there?" Reese said sadistically, he made to reach for him but was stopped by a familiar feeling of being kicked off. Reese skidded as he saw the girl from before land beside the mech, even though it was barely standing after all the abuse it had received from the fights. Torchwick knew better and got out, landing with ease.

The ginger man dusted himself, "Just got this thing cleaned too, it would have been a shame if you girls got it dirty." He looked to RWBY "Ladies," then to Reese who had gotten back up, "'firefly'. We'll see you next time, Neo if you would." The girl, now known as 'Neo' posed by bowing and just stood there.

In pure frustration Reese fired multiple shots at them, alas however it all shattered into glass. One moment they were standing, and then the next the image of Torchwick and Neo all fell to pieces like a rock thrown at a window. The sound of engines roaring all whipped their heads to the open air where a bullhead sped off, well prepared for no doubt. In more frustration Reese fired more shots at them, more of a statement than for actual effect. When left in silence the flames on Reese dissipated, restoring his face which was slightly bruised. On his backside was a small amount of crimson red, dried blood from a wound that had now been cauterized by his Semblance. On the way out he did notice something though, the girl Neo looked at him in the eyes and gave the most sadistic of winks. That woman was pissing him off to no end now.

Reese picked up his helmet and put it back on, mentally lamenting the fact the visor was now chipped and would have to be repaired, not only that but his side hurt like hell and his back felt like a whole bottle of aspirin was not going to be enough to soothe it. He walked back to RWBY, letting the girls stare in a sort of stun silence at what they saw, using the time to lean in at Blake. His eye exposed in the broken glass.

"Where is Kylie?"

 **-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-**

 **A bit of a shorter chapter this time around, but I wanted to get this done and I felt like this was a nice way to wrap this up without having it go on and on. This originally was going to be a complete flashback chapter for KKLF at Atlas but hell it just didn't work out. No chibi end here, that will be an off and on sort of thing, I'm not that creative when it comes to that stuff. Here's to another year of this story, and to another volume of RWBY. As always, see ya later suckers.**


	19. Chapter 19: Calm Before a Very Odd Storm

Chapter 19: Calm Before a Very Odd Storm

If Reese had known the grilling he was going to receive from not only his team leader, but also from Kendra, for the stunt he pulled he really wasn't going to second guess it. However, what he wasn't prepared for was Travis grinning ear to ear like a little child given a bike for his birthday as he hastily scribbled down more notes than he ever had back Home or in Beacon.

"How could you think of doing something so stupid?!" Brandon yelled from inside their room with all of his team and Team KKLF standing around him. Though Kylie was sitting off to the side.

"Were you even thinking?!" Kendra got in close looking down at him, "Going by yourself is one thing, but taking my teammate without even considering the risks is just foolish!"

"If it makes you feel better-"

"No it doesn't Reese!" Kendra interrupted, "I expect this kind of behavior from Travis or at least Franklin, but not from you."

"Hey," Franklin sounded off, a bit offended but he couldn't do more than that. It was sort of true. Travis however wasn't paying attention as the speed of pencil was so great he was risking burning the paper. You could probably throw every insult at him and he wouldn't even dignify the response with his own.

"I wasn't going to let them go up against that mech by themselves," Reese responded, "they needed my help."

"You don't know that," Brandon said, "Team RWBY and those two from Mistral could likely handle whatever Torchwick had in store from them."

"You don't know that, that one pink and brown chick would have mopped the floor with them if I didn't distract her."

"Yeah and instead you got stabbed," Kendra stepped in pointing to a hidden bandage beneath his black tank top, "you're lucky your semblance cauterized the wound or you might've been in worse shape. Then we really could've grilled you for this act of stupidity."

"Listen I get the fact that you're angry, can we just please let me sleep. The doctors said my aura will let my wound heal by tomorrow, it wasn't as bad as they thought."

"If you just did what you were supposed to then we wouldn't have this issue Reese. Not only that but you scared the girls pretty damn good," this time to Reese averted his eyes from them. They had seen his face when in his semblance, a thing they figured out when testing it, at a certain temperature threshold his skin and muscles were removed leaving his whole skeletal structure exposed.

"I get that, and I'm sorry for getting a little pissed off back there, but for god's sake I didn't want to spend my whole evening in some stuffy lab while we troubleshooted possibilities that probably don't exist." There was a point ot Reese's argument, not once during the experiments had they come up with a working procedure. "And from Travis had said beforehand we probably won't get another shot at it."

Travis, who was still scribbling like a madman completely missed the half asked question directed at him while all the rest stared at him to respond. "...so you said the actuators were about four inches in diameter for the elbow joints and the-" Travis finally looked up from his little private world and saw the faces. His mind catching him up to speed, he cleared his throat before speaking, "Yes, that was probably a one time thing, no doubt Ozpin would start to question why the both of our teams would be using the Dust Labs late into the evening when we don't have any projects for them.

"Can't we just say we're trying to learn more about this world?" Lavender asked, flipping a playing card between her fingers because -goddamn- was this boring listening them to talk about logistics.

"That only works for a small number of things now," Travis replied, "we've been here for half a year now, we've had more than enough time to become accustomed to Dust during our time here. If we spend too many nights doing the same thing they'll grow suspicious of us."

"Well then, we'll just have to crack it," Franklin said with a bit of innocence in his voice.

"What we're attempting is pure science fiction in both worlds Franklin, not to mention none of us seem to have a Quantum Physics Degree or happen to be Albert freakin' Einstein. Keep in mind we're still high schoolers, calling this is pipe dream would be an overstatement."

Travis' word dug in deep, a stab at the heart of all in there. Was it true? Unfortunately so, even he knew that, didn't mean he wished to be hopeful as well. "That being said though, it wasn't quite a failure."

"What do you mean by that?" Sam spoke from the side of his bed where Kendra had sat down on the other side.

Flipping through the pages in his notebook Travis took a breath, "Out of all the experiments we managed to to harness large amounts of electricity to create a self feeding state so to speak."

"English for those who sucked at science," Lavender said with little shame, she was always more of a drawing person.

"We were able to have Dust in a self sustaining loop, we were able to keep it from running out of energy. We turned it into a renewable energy source like wind, hydro, or solar energy back Home."

Travis' words held weight and he knew it. Dust was supposedly like coal or oil back Home, it would run out at some point. Having the ability to self replicate it or have it run on forever was world changing. "And you did this how?" Kendra asked.

In response Travis shrugged, "Beats me, I was fiddling with some instruments and it just worked. All I know was that I needed a shit ton of Dust to start it when I tried again, it almost makes it not worth it with the amount of dust needed to start it."

"What makes you say that?"

"It's like a very earlier model steam engine or any early invention, it has it's issues. The thing shorted out the first times I messed with it, and saying it's sensitive is calling it lightly. Even a shred of any other Dust makes it die on the spot." Travis closed the notebook and rubbed his brow, "I think it would be a good idea if we keep this to our ourselves for the time being."

"And why is that?" Brandon asked, the shining knight inside him disliking this proposition.

"Two reasons," Travis held up two fingers. "One: A declaration of this magnitude would forever turn Remnant on its head, society would virtually change over night. While this probably only applies to Electricity Dust imagine what this would do to the Dust industry, the need for it would plummet sending the world's economy into a guessing game. Electricity Dust is used to power virtually everything, we have no idea how much we can power with this sending the power grid into a game of roulette. Further testing would be required before going public. Second: If we do come forward with this, we will put into the public eye as 'geniuses who cracked one of the biggest problems with Dust', we will have to be around more people than ever before. And you know what that means."

"Interviews, questions, and the like?" Brandon was catching on.

"Precisely," Travis snapped his fingers, "and I bet they will want to ask us about our past, something we do not want constantly asked. I imagine certain members around us, including myself admittedly, would blow up and spill the beans." While not saying directly, the others thought of Reese who had been more vocal about telling the others about their Home. "If we want to keep that anonymity then we don't go around spewing this data. In fact," Travis walked up to his desk and opened a drawer and ripped the paper out of his notebook and hid it beneath some of the junk in there, "it will be kept in here until the day we need it."

"Do you think we could use it for something else?" Reese questioned.

"Like what?" Travis had a hard time of what Reese could be alluding to.

"I'm talking about a bargaining chip."

"For what?" Now Sam was also questioning what was going on in Reese's head. Maybe his Semblance cooked his brains.

"I think we can all agree we don't trust Ozpin"

"Ozpin?" Kendra asked, "What's he got to do with this?"

"Just about everything. We did those experiments in secret for a reason right? We didn't want him to figure out we were trying to find solution to go Home. You've said it yourself Brandon he seems to be planning something."

"Yeah, but to be fair he runs a school made for warriors, it's probably no different than running a military."

"A school he runs, that's almost like a military academy, and just so happens to be close friends with the General and Headmaster of another academy and the world's leading military."

Travis could finish the connecting pieces, "You're saying Ozpin might use us for his personal gains."

"Exactly, and we need this as a way to get us off his back, we offer him this and we go our merry little way out of here."

"You really think someone like Ozpin would do that, I know you distrust Ironwood but this is new coming from you," Lavender said putting the playing card away.

Travis and Brandon exchanged looks, Travis turned away back to his desk while Brandon gave a half hearted nod that went sideways, "We've had our reservations, something always seemed off about him."

"You guys sure are paranoid," Franklin said.

"Maybe you're just too trusting," Travis chuckled.

"That's what a paranoid person says," Lavender shot back.

Travis didn't continue this game, or maybe that's what they wanted...or maybe he really was getting paranoid at this point. "Anyways, as it currently stands, we will be keeping that revelation secret for the time being. I don't any of you would disagree?" There were none, "Good, now I suggest we all get some rest, we still have classes."

"Alright," Kendra stood up and opened the door, her teammates walking out with Kylie taking slow steps looking like a child who lost something vitally important to them, the team leader looked at her and then back at them, "we will discuss this further."

The door closed and Brandon exhaled, "Of course we will."

"Look I'm sorry-"

"No Reese, you're going to shut up," Travis' personality flipped on a dim, he got right into Reese's tired face with a disgusting sneer, "I know you think you've been through a lot tonight but what you did was beyond stupid. What the actual f! k were you thinking? I think the more appropriate question would be 'were you thinking'?"

Reese didn't back down and looked right at Travis' blue eyes, "C++, Ironwood."

That simple phrase completely changed Travis' face once again to a pure stunned and worried face, his eyes widened and he took a few steps back."Brandon after class tomorrow get Kendra and Kylie together, we're having a senior class meeting."

"Travis?" Brandon questioned, a bit puzzled by his tone, it sounded more like fear.

"Just do it, let's hope Ironwood hasn't found out yet," Travis walked to his desk to start drawing larger schematic of the new Paladin.

"Find out what?" Sam asked.

Travis didn't answer, his eyes focused on the drawing, probably putting daggers into it by how hard he was focusing. " _I thought we put this behind us Reese."_

 **-X-**

Travis approached the combat quietly, he was always tired by this point in the day but even more so as last night went into early morning. He honestly couldn't remember the name of his opponent, just some twerp from Vacuo. Who cared? His eyelids stay closed for a long time before hearing Glynda's voice shout out.

"Are both students ready?!" Travis averted his head as the loudspeaker put a pang in his head.

"Yep," he gave a half hearted nod, and rubbed his temples. " _We'll make this quick."_ Holding out his hand he let an all too familiar pain in his head take hold which moderately woke him up. " _ **Heed my call!"**_

In a flash the various pieces of the Victor assembled out of thin air, the legs slamming into the floor, followed by the lower torso, both arms, and then the finale of the head screwing into place. When fully assembled it gave a low mechanical groan, mirroring its master's groggy state. With a flick of his hand the creation charged forward, completing betraying the idea of it being a slow lumbering machine, raising its normal fist at the approaching student who was a pure melee user. He would never stand a chance against the mech.

And the Victor did not disappoint.

"And that's the match," Glynda said as the student from Vacuo laid there ass sticking up a ways away from where he was previously, slightly dazed to. The Victor which stood silent and still disappeared by cracking in various areas and splitting into nothingness. The pain in Travis' head deescalating to bearable degrees. "Well done Mister Basco, it looks like your training has paid off."

"Thank you," he finished with a yawn and then walked away as Glynda went to pick up the other student. He practically fell into the stands as his tired body begged to sit down, it was days like these he regretted using heavy armor.

"Nice job man," Sam congratulated with a pat on his metal back.

Travis gave an ambiguous grunt along with a thumbs up.

"Tired?" Sam asked.

The axeman repeated the same noise with a slow nod.

"Well maybe if you didn't stay up till four in the morning working on goddamn drawings then you wouldn't be so tired," Brandon chided.

Travis lifted his head, barely able to get his mouth over the seat and set his chin on it, "Well forgive me for getting overly excited."

"Overly excited," Brandon repeated, "I heard you giggling maniacally throughout the night."

"And I am incredibly sorry for that, now can you let me rest? This bench is incredibly comfy."

"Oh? Well I was going to talk to you but if that's how you feel," came an incredibly smooth feminine voice behind Travis. His head shot up and the three all looked past him to see-

"Cinder?" Travis questioned, looked back, and confirmed his suspicion as the girl Travis had gone out on a date with was standing behind him in her usual Haven Academy uniform with her two teammates Emerald and Mercury further behind her but they were in their regular gear. Despite the fact he appeared tired mere moments ago Travis did a full spin, and managed to seat himself upright in a feat of athletics that seemed slightly impossible. "What brings you here?"

"Did I need permission to talk to you?" She cooed softly, placing a finger on her chin with a coy smile.

Travis sputtered like an old broken engine, his face growing somewhat warm looking at her, "Of course not, sorry about that it's just that we haven't really got a chance to talk or even see each other. I thought I may have scared you away."

"Not at all, in fact I was wondering if you were free tonight?" the girl's amber eyes reflected off the light for a moment as she flicked her hair back.

Travis exchanged looks with Brandon who shrugged giving Travis free reign, "Maybe not tonight, I have a something due. Tomorrow work for you?"

Cinder contemplated, that smile still on her face, "I can make it work, dress somewhat formal, I'll meet you by the bullheads at five." Cinder turned and walked away followed by her two teammates, for some reason though Emerald turned and gave a sneer that was barely noticeable.

Travis merely brushed it aside and then Brandon cleared his throat, "So that's Cinder, I thought she would be more...crass."

Travis' smile died down slightly as Brandon was the first to speak, it went on as the others spoke.

"I imagined she would be more desperate," Sam offered raising his hand up a little as he leaned back. Travis' face fell even more

"I believed she'd be inflatable," Reese chuckled through his helmet.

Travis' unamused face look down at all of them thinking of the numerous ways he could hurt them, "Okay you three cannot judge me on my romantic relationships."

"And why not?" Reese humored him.

"Well to start, Sam is dating a girl who nearly killed us because Brandon has such insecurities that he couldn't ask out his girl so instead he lied to her about it, and do I really need to bring up your incident Reese."

"Okay," Reese sat up, "first off I never tried to actually get a date out of it-"

"You're right Reese, you wanted to skip the whole 'dating' thing and tried to marry Weiss and consummate said marriage," Travis interrupted and said rather loudly.

Every single male, and some females, heard Travis' comment which he purposefully said louder than necessary, and were now glaring at him. Reese could see the whole room dim into darkness with red, glowing, bloodthirsty eyes aimed toward him. The room full of warriors who trained for years all wanted Reese's head on a plate.

Reese, very nervous, made for the exit, and said to the crowd, "To be fair I was given a love potion."

"Get him!" Cried one who didn't care to listen.

"F #K!" Reese screamed and booked it out the arena doors, followed by a mob of about twenty five students.

With the rest of Team BBRS, Team JNPR, and Team RWBY with albeit slightly mortified Weiss, Travis turned to his team and smiled. "Anyone else want to insult my love life?"

"Mr. Basco you will be meet me for detention after class," Glynda announced, she didn't have to raise her voice as the hall was mostly empty now.

Travis looked at Goodwitch and his face fell, "Well shit, I f #$%d that up."

 **-Later that night-**

"Okay Travis, you made us wait a day, what the hell is this all for?" Kendra asked as she cleared out her two teammates Lavender and Franklin. They were going with Reese and Sam to their dorm to hang out. Now it was only Brandon who came with Travis, Kendra, and Kylie in the room.

When the door closed Travis sat in a desk chair, whether it was his or theirs it seemed like he would always sit in some sort of chair, and pulled out a piece of paper. "I thought it would be a good idea to cool off from yesterday, I think we got a lot of emotions. Besides, I think we were going to have a senior class meeting anyways after something like this."

"I still can't believe we're calling it that," Kendra rolled her eyes and put her head in her hands.

"Why not?" Brandon offered, "we were all students in our senior year of highschool, it's the only thing that really connects the four of us. You and I are team leaders sure but what are Travis and Kylie?"

"The smart ones?" Travis suggested, a cheesy smile following his response. Brandon and Kendra both silenced him on the spot. "I see so that's how we're going for this meeting."

"Just tell us what is going on here?" Kendra pleaded, due to Travis' detention it was getting late.

Travis took a sigh and looked at Brandon who inhaled and nodded, "Before Travis gets to his point I think we all wanted to know if Kylie was doing okay?"

Kylie, who had been quiet for most of her classes except when called on, all of lunch, and even during the grilling last night Kendra or Brandon hadn't said a word to her. She looked up and smiled weakly, "I'm doing fine Brandon, just shook up is all." She averted her eyes downward and her eyes were struggling to keep dry.

"Kylie, it's fine," Brandon consoled, placing his hand on her shoulder, "no one is going to judge you."

Whatever dam of emotions and thoughts Kylie had been holding back finally burst, her face collapsed in her hands and the tears just flowed. Even Travis closed his eyes in this solemn moment.

"They were just as bad as everyone made them out to be!" Kylie yelled, not at anyone but sometimes just crying out to the world is for the best. "They said I was a monster, traitor, a disgrace!" Brandon shifted around so he embraced Kylie in a hug, followed by Kendra on the other side, and then Travis moved himself to be at least with them in solidarity. They didn't say anything, they just say there as she continued to cry and wail away.

Eventually Kylie had to be put to bed as the last of her tears carried her off to sleep, leaving only Travis, Kendra, and Brandon left in the room.

"I'm sorry about that," Brandon said, putting the last of the covers on Kylie who was resting soundly now, "I didn't think she would explode like that."

Kendra looked to her teammate, her good friend, "Yeah, neither did I."

"When were you planning on talking to her about it?" Travis asked sitting back down in his chair. Kendra remained quiet, her head looking down to avoid eye contact, to which both of them caught on to. "For god's sake Kendra you weren't going to talk to her about this?" Travis' voice rising ever so slightly, "You're her leader, this is huge what's she going through."

"And you would know that how?" Kendra shot back, the veracity in her tone shut Travis up good, "I don't think you've noticed but while you've had a grand old time here in Beacon we've had our own issues to deal with in Atlas. Kylie is a faunus living in the one place the are most discriminated against. One day after another we have to defend Kylie from something or someone, it doesn't matter if it's a student or a regular person she's treated like dirt in form or another because she is a faunus. Do you have any idea of what that's like?"

"Kendra," Travis' face hardened, "while I don't know discrimination as that bad, I was treated like shit for a long time back Home because I was a tad different. And no, we haven't had to deal with that sort of thing, we did get lucky that we landed here and didn't have anything change for us in terms of our physiology, but don't think we can't understand."

"Why didn't you tell us that something like this was happening Kendra?" Brandon asked, "We're the only family we have left, and keeping secrets like that is exactly why something like this just happened." Brandon exhaled and pleadingly asked his friend, "Don't keep something like this away from us again okay?"

Kendra turned her head to Kylie and nodded, "Okay fine, I'll keep you in the loop from now on."

"Thank you," Brandon said.

"Much appreciated," Travis added, "but now I imagine we should get on to the other matter at hand, the reason I called for this meeting."

"Yeah what was about that?" Brandon asked, "all Reese said was C++ and Ironwood and you freaked out. I get that C++ is a coding language back home but that tells me nothing. What happened?"

"Reese hacked into the Atlas Military database, specifically, Ironwood's personal files."

Travis' response silenced the two of them for a good minute, a cold stare form Travis' zeroed into a wall, a displeased and angered look on his face.

Kendra spoke first, "Why would he do that? And how did you get all that from what he said last night?"

But Brandon followed up, "Screw the 'why' I want to know 'how' he could do something like that? That seems a little far fetched even for us."

"Reese is a fluent coder, he was to come up with the basic programming to run the systems in his armor, he also knows how to hack into computer systems and extract information. You remember that day in school where the computer systems and files went dark?"

"Yeah, it screwed over the whole school, a lot of teachers lost their documents and work."

"That was Reese."

"Why would he do something like that? Isn't that illegal?" Kendra questioned.

"The fact that it is illegal is why he did it, Reese despite his reserved nature in social situations is a risk taker when the situation turns into dangerous territory, it's probably why he went with the girls to Vale and fought the Paladin."

"So why hack into Ironwood's database? For the fun of it?"

"I believe that may be my own fault, I think I told him once I would like to know what Ironwood is planning for us and he ran with the idea as a way to hack into the database."

"Why didn't we know about this sooner, why didn't you tell me at least?" Brandon asked, annoyed by Travis' slightly calm nature through this all, this should be a bigger issue.

"As far as I knew Reese had put that all behind him when one of the teachers back Home found out, happened to be one of the newer ones who was more lenient with him. Reese said he was done after being caught, I guess not. But with that out of the way, I want to ask you Kendra what exactly Reese might find in those files so we know how to approach this issue. Reese gave me a brief run through showing the list, it was long, but for some stupid reason he had a bunch of fairy tales in there as well. Why that would be labeled as important information is beyond me?"

After a brief pause Kendra spoke pulling up her scroll, "What Reese is going to find is something called Project Gaia."

"'Project Gaia'?" Brandon repeated.

She nodded, "Remember when I told you that the General was having Atlasian Scientists working on a method to get us Home?" The two reciprocated the nod, "That's what Project Gaia is, although he's split it up into so many fragments that they won't be able to tell what it's all for."

"What did he tell them? I doubt they would just do the work, they would need a reason so they could get the funds."

"Ironwood controls both the military and the academy in Atlas," Brandon told Travis, "I also hear he's shoring up his political strength by sponsoring a candidate seat in the council, he controls one already."

"So he silences them with the threat of personnel, protection or losing their funding," Travis listed, "and you wonder why we're wary of him Kendra."

"Well when you put it like that," Kendra said a bit exasperated, "I know how it sounds but he hasn't given me a reason to distrust his words yet."

"Just keep it in the back of your mind from now on," Travis responded. "Is there anything else we should know about Project Gaia?"

"It's close."

Brandon and Travis looked at each other, both wide eyed and equally nervous as they were hopeful. Brandon leaned forward, "When you say they're close?"

"I mean they almost have it figured out."

Out of pure excitement Travis stood up, both his eye swallowed by his semblance lights with a mini Victor running around on the top of a empty bed, "Yes!"

"Travis," Kendra chided, motioning her head towards Kylie who was sleeping.

"Ooh right," Travis sat down and the lights dimmed returning to his natural state, he sank in his chair and meekly uttered a "sorry."

"Listen the General doesn't want you guys knowing just because it was in its early testing, but they managed to get a working prototype put together, in some facility deep within the continent of Sanus."

"Sanus?" Travis questioned.

"Prototype?" Brandon did the same.

"Sanus because Ozpin help get funding for it from the council after the General came to Beacon, and 'prototype' because they can't test it on live subjects because there's no way to communicate with them when on the other side. It would be impossible to come back too."

"So you're saying we get to be guinea pigs?" Travis asked.

"Unfortunately, but what choice do we have? They sent drones but the moment they cross over the feed cuts maybe after a split second. The General believes it could be because Dust gets weaker when it's farther away from Remnant."

"And going across dimensions is probably very far," Brandon finished to which Kendra nodded. "Do you know when he's planning on telling us? Just so we know when to act surprised when he tells us."

"I asked him to wait as long as possible so we don't just disappear and it be a story, no doubt if it were to happen during the Vytal Festival people would notice if a bunch of competitors disappeared."

"So it would either be before the festival or after," Travis postulated.

"If it's before then they can remove us from the list of competitors and no one would notice, if it's after then no one would notice until the next two years. No one would be the wiser."

"Except," Travis countered, "some would." He looked to his team leader, "What of RWBY and JNPR? What would we do about...Velvet and Coco?" He knew it hurt to say that for Brandon and the way his face scrunched up could easily tell his thoughts on it.

"We both knew this day might come," Brandon replied, smiling at the ground thinking about his time with Velvet, "I just hope I can say goodbye when it does."

"Outside of that, I can think the others would understand, even if it will be painful."

Brandon then took a breath with a wishful but pained smile, "Goodbyes are always painful."

 **-The Next Day, after classes-**

"Hey there Brandon."

Brandon turned around to the petite sounding voice that belonged to Ruby, she sheepishly faced him as the two stood in the hallway, he was holding a few textbooks and the only extra thing she had was her classic red hood.

"Ruby," he greeted with a smile, "what can I do for you?"

"I just wanted to know if Reese and Kylie were doing okay?"

" _Always caring, I can see why we trust you."_ His eyes softened as he thought about it, the tears and the anger. Then there was Reese, Brandon was beginning to question things about his own teammates. If Travis knew that, what else could he possibly know about Reese? Or vice versa, what secrets could Travis be hiding from him? For a good few years up until fairly recently the two kept a closed off relationship that could only be described as 'convenience based' rather than preferrable. A lot can happen in a single year, even some mystical things could happen in half that time.

"They're doing fine," Brandon put slowly, "Kylie was shaken up, Reese...we just found somethings out that we weren't ready for."

"Was it his skull head?"

Brandon did a double take, "His what now?"

"When Reese used his semblance all you could see was his skull in the flames, it was kind of scary."

"Oh that," Brandon was very nonchalant about it, "yeah we've known about that for a while now."

"You did?"

"Yeah, I mean when you live with a few people you pick up on those kind of things."

"So that's natural?"

"Now I wouldn't say it's 'natural' by _our_ standards but for you guys it seems like a normal walk in the park. We found out when we were testing it, at a certain temperature threshold Reese's skeletal structure is visible."

"His whole skeleton?"

"Yep, all of it."

"How did you figure that out?"

Brandon's face fell as he remembered the testing.

 **-Some time ago-**

"Aw god Reese, next time warn us when you're turn off your semblance!"

"My eyes! I'm blind"

"Look what you did to Sam he's vomiting! Glynda's going to kill us!"

"I get it you asshats! I said I was sorry! How was I supposed to know that was going to happen?!"

"You took off your clothes goddammit! You think they would just magically put themselves back on?!"

"Possibly!"

"Oh god I think my retinas are burning themselves, I don't think I'll see for weeks."

"What I want to know is why they are so small, you were literally on fire?"

"Not appropriate Travis!

 **-Present-**

"We...stumbled upon it during training," Brandon said slowly, "it freaked us out too."

"Oh well that's good," Ruby's face suddenly changed realizing what that might connote , "not that we thought he was a freak or anything we just thought there might have been something wrong with him."

"You don't need to defend yourself Ruby, being worried about that kind of stuff is completely fine," Brandon smiled which eased little Ruby's heart.

"A good," she happily smile but Brandon leaned in.

"However, we are going to have a little talk about the other night," Brandon let the smile change from one happy and funny to one that inspired dread and fear.

"Whatever could you mean?" She hopefully was reading this wrong, perhaps she was going to get some cookies from him, or maybe a pat on the back. Well his hand did land on her back, and he gripped the hood of her cape and tugged on it.

"Come, we have lots to discuss," his smile and focus on the open hallway only made the little girl shiver. Brandon wasn't normally the one to snap, quite the opposite really he was seen as the calm one. What had she done?

 **-X-**

Travis certainly wasn't expecting something this fancy for a second date, then again he thought going to a burger joint and a nice movie was the 'ideal date'. No wonder he had an ex girlfriend. But this made him feel out of place. When he arrived Cinder was in a full floor length dress that shimmered in the light while he was wearing just a measly black dress shirt with matching slacks. He knew he should of picked up the bowtie on his way out. At least he combed his hair so it wasn't frazzled looking as it had been these past few days. She had put one make up too, not too much to make it look fake, but just enough that she looked drop dead gorgeous. To Travis it was only icing on the cake, it was all extra, she was already perfect for him as she was. How simple minded of him.

"Travis?" Cinder said causing Travis to come to full attention, he shook his head realizing he had been caught staring at her figure, which the dress did not help to avoid. Saying it hugged her curves would be an understatement, why did he have to have an exploitable weakness? "I said we're here."

"Oh, ok, sorry I was lost in thought," Travis said trying to save any shred of his dignity, getting caught staring was _not_ the best way to start off a date.

"Hmm, I bet," she softly giggled, Travis' face fell knowing he was caught like a gerbil heading towards a dinner plate in Spain. "What kind of thoughts were those?" She pressed herself closer to him getting a rise out of him, a task she found easy with him.

"Sorry, you're just so beautiful," Travis sort of made an excuse. Is it really an excuse when he thought it was true?

"I'll take that as a compliment," Travis mentally wiped his brow, a small part of him almost thought he accidentally used his semblance when that familiar pain entered his head. Anything done mentally now had to be watched with a careful eye. "But you will be expected to pay for being indecent in public." She latched onto his arm and pulled him through the small grouping of people. Up to a kid probably a few years older than himself and looking so enthralled maintaining the guest list for tonight. "Reservation for two, under 'Fall'."

The kid ran his finger down the list and stopped part way through, "Ah yes, welcome, I'll take you to your table."

"This was pretty short notice for a place such as this, rather fancy for placing a reservation a day ago," Travis said, noticing how most of the guest probably wore more than his instrument was worth. And don't get him started on the cost of a Euphonium.

"I had a...friend pull a few strings for me," sure it would mean she would have to help that accursed Watts, but for right now she needed Travis' aide. They were sat at their table which left them with a view of the Vale coast, candlelights in the middle and more utensils then Travis knew existed. "I sense you're not use to this kind of place."

"No, I grew up outside the kingdoms," a half-truth yes, but one that was easy to make up and give evidence. "This type of stuff is pretty foreign to me, I mean look at it, why are there _eight_ forks?"

Even Cinder had to giggle at his inquiry, even if he knew it was purely a comical act he was putting on she still had to take the bait. "Well I believe this fork is used to eat your food."

If it had been anyone else, Travis would have given a snide remark to respond with, but since it was Cinder he managed to get a smile out and relax with a breath. "You don't have to be snarky you know?" She smiled back at him, "So what did you wish to discuss?"

"My down to business are we?" She leaned back a hand tossed to the side with her eyes as well, "I see Travis Basco is a very busy man and cannot simply enjoy his time with a woman such as myself."

His finger tapped on the table as he saw her smug look staring back at him when she saw his face. "Fine," he said, "I just thought you would like to have a nice chat, that's what we did last time."

"Oh, so you enjoyed that?" She cooed, tracing a finger around the rim of her glass of water brought to them.

"I've always enjoyed a good conversation," Travis defended taking a sip from his own cup. "I may be good looking but I've also got a brain."

"You think you're good looking?"

"Wow. You know I might have feelings," Travis said shaking his head while Cinder only hummed to herself in amusement. "So if you didn't want to talk about that, then what do you suppose we do until they bring our food?"

"Well I do wish to speak, I didn't come here to sit in silence my little lumberjack," Cinder knew by the way his face fell that 'little lumberjack' was instantly becoming a new nickname if only to annoy him. Even if she was trying to use him, there was no reason she couldn't enjoy this.

"Oh, and what did you want to ask me?" Travis said trying to ignore the 'little lumberjack' comment.

"Why don't you tell me where you're from? I want to know about your village."

 **-X-**

Kendra certainly hadn't expected this, she went to the arena to train on some dummies to get ready for the tournament or whenever Project Gaia was going to be completed. However she hadn't expected to hear music, especially rock music that sounded eerily familiar. When she found the source she dropped her club which sounded the other people in the room to her presence.

"Kendra!" Her own cousin Sam yelled, "What are you doing here?"

Sam was standing in front with only the white undershirt of his Beacon uniform on and a pair of slacks, the other shirt laying on a speaker. But in his hands, and standing in front of him was a microphone stand with a wire hooked up to a speaker. She looked farther back and saw Reese with a sweaty forehead wearing along the same attire as Sam only his sleeves were rolled back. He was barely noticeable because he sat in a drum set. Then she saw the other two culprits, one smiling at her like nothing was wrong and the other pleading for mercy. Lavender, the smiling one, was holding a purple guitar, her uniform long gone replaced by jeans, a black t shirt, and a grey sweatshirt tied around her waist. Franklin looked as he usually did with a unzipped hoodie with those damn cargo shorts, although he was holding a bass guitar.

"I was going to go train for a while, this whole thing has gotten me pretty frustrated," Kendra replied, a little weirded out by the sight before her. "May I ask what are you guys doing?"

"Uhh, well we uh," Franklin stupidly stuttered and tried to find a way to speak.

"We're forming a rock band to perform at the dance," Lavender finished for him.

"Huh?" It was Kendra's turn to make a stupid face and fail to make words.

"Yeah, Coco thought it would be a good idea to liven up the dance. You know how she is when it comes to frilly things like this," Sam explained leaning back from the microphone.

"Of course that woman would think of something like this," she rolled her eyes, droll tone in her voice. Only someone as 'unique' as Coco Adel would think a rock band would make for great entertainment at a formal dance. Then again she was seeing her own cousin behind her back, so maybe that was to be expected.

"Aw come on, you know you like Coco, the two of you have been bonding," Sam said, somewhat naively. By 'bonding', what it truly was a defensive cousin fighting some kind of fashion focused tramp who wanted to steal Kendra's precious cousin's innocence.

But that was just an assumption Kendra made, one based on her own evidence but an assumption nonetheless. However there was something nagging her in the back of her mind, well two things actually but one was more pressing than the other.

"How'd you pay for the instruments?" She pointed to the guitars and drums, then to the speakers and microphone.

Sam and Reese exchanged looks and then Reese shrugged, "Don't worry I got it covered."

 **-Beacon Tower-**

"Ozpin, why do we have a bill from the Vale Music Company for a couple thousand Lien?"

 **-Back to the band-**

" _Thank you hacking skills."_

"Okay," Kendra was trying to put her foot down on this madness, "now I know playing rock band is real fun and all, but aren't your friends Team RWBY putting the rest of the dance together?"

"Yeah?" Sam didn't see what this had to with anything.

"Shouldn't you be asking them about doing this?"

Sam scoffed and threw a hand with it, "Ahhh that's fine, they know what's up."

"Sam you're coming with me, we're going to talk to RWBY," Kendra said in her 'mom' voice, with a stone face that Franklin and Lavender had come to know to fear. As her cousin, Sam had learned to fear it, to cower from its glare, and hide whenever possible.

However there was nowhere for Sam to hide, "Yes ma'am,"his shoulders slumped and he walked forward ahead of Kendra who followed behind him. "Don't put anything away yet, we may be still on for the dance."

The door closed leaving the three younger students to exchanged confused looks, Lavender spoke first, "I've been meaning to ask you, how did even get these instruments in here without being noticed?"

Reese placed his drumsticks in a holder and leaned back with arms crossed, "That's for me, Citron, Bern, and Gustavo to know, and you to find out." He stood up to get a drink of water, "By the way, if anybody asks, that blood on the other side of the crate was not from me because he was a witness...that guy tripped and fell due to the sheer excitement of seeing a rock band."

With the seeming blase attitude, Franklin stepped away from the crate from which he had been leaning on, the same one Reese had pointed to. Franklin had always been a tiny bit afraid of Reese, when he hung out with Travis he would sometimes accompany him. The things those two talked about were not normal conversation. Then again, Franklin had to ask: 'What counted as normal?'

 **-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-**

 **And we're done, as always thanks for reading, no sobby story or major thing to deal with this time. School's been going better than last semester, starting to figure out what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. I've been thinking about teaching history...which when going from engineering to history teacher seems like an odd step. But hey that's college, never know what's going to happen. See ya later suckers….ok not really, here's a chibi ending for you**

 **-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-**

On a white backgrounds fall multiple letters with four tiny, chibi version of Brandon, Travis, Reese, and Sam. With his jetpack Reese jumps on top of the letter 'F', Sam sits down cross legged under a big 'B' taller than all the letters on the far right hand end with smile on his face, Travis being the cool guy he tried so hard to be leaned in between the upper case 'F' and a lowercase 't', and Brandon stood tall with his sword pointed in to the ground with blank expression. The letters went in an order as follows: F-t-B-R-t-B

 _Children Voices:_ "From the Band Room to Beacon Chibi!"

With their announcement a pinkish white word that spelled 'Chibi' came slamming into the side.

 _-First Skit: The Perfect Date Part 2_

Inside a room stood Cinder Fall, Emerald, and Mercury looking over a very elaborate scheme involving puppies, wait no puppies=no so never mind.

 _Cinder:_ "Now all we have to do is make sure we don't have any setbacks."

 _Emerald:_ "You know, by saying that you're just inviting someone to show up."

 _Cinder:_ "Oh, it's fine."

Immediately the door slams open revealing Travis.

 _Travis:_ "Ohh Cindy!

Both Emerald and Mercury's hearts stopped there, their faces stuck in the same position of fear and worry. Cinder was casually moving her hand to the whiteboard while her eyes were wide.

 _Cinder:_ "Hello Travis, what brings you here?"

 _Travis:_ "Well I was thinking if you didn't have anything going on later tonight you and I could go for a stroll around the town."

 _Cinder:_ "Oh, that's...uhhh" Cinder's head swiveled from right to left keeping tabs on her slowly turning whiteboard and Travis, "sweet Travis, but I'm doing something that will take up the night."

Travis' head cocked to the side, noticing the whiteboard turning and pointed.

 _Travis:_ "Does it have to do with that whiteboard you are ominously turning around?"

Cinder's head flipped between the board, Travis, and her two subordinates. And the nodded.

 _Cinder:_ "Yes, it is a delicious cake that I will be baking for you."

 _Travis:_ "Aww, that's so sweet of you, well then have fun. Mercury, Emerald, try not to look so stone faced, one day your face might end up like that."

Travis walked out, humming happily to himself some tune in his head.

Mercury's eyes shifted between everyone and he leaned back.

 _Mercury:_ "So can I kill him or what?"

 _-Transition: Lavender falls from the sky with multiple playing cards in her hand. She throws them left, she throws them right where they all explode. With a toothy grin she grabs more from inside her suit jacket and chucks them all up swallowing the screen in a massive explosion.-_

 _-Second Skit: High Stakes-_

Lavender, Travis, Brandon, Kendra, and Jaune sat at a semicircle table with a green top. Lavender sat the top of the semicircle and delt the cards to each of the others.

 _Lavender:_ "Okay, ladies and gentlemen, and you too Jaune."

 _Jaune:_ "Hey!"

 _Lavender:_ Today we're going to be playing some good old fashion Blackjack! If you are above twenty one you're out, the closer you are or if you have twenty one you win. Face cards are tens and aces are elevens or ones. Travis you staying or keeping?"

 _Jaune:_ "Wait, what do you mean 'aces are eleven or ones'?"

 _Brandon:_ "You can choose if you want them to count as a one or an eleven depending on what you have."

 _Jaune:_ "So if I had a king and an ace that would mean?"

 _Brandon:_ "That you would win the round."

 _Jaune:_ "Oh, so you mean like this?"

Jaune flipped his two cards over and revealed a king of hearts and an ace of diamonds. The four exchanged looks at one another. Lavender shook her head before coming back to reality.

 _Lavender:_ "Yes Jaune you win the round."

After a few groans the other three threw a few lien at Jaune. To which his eyes got wide and he made this sort of sound that might have sounded cute, but mainly it creeped the others out. Travis leaned in to Kendra's ear.

 _Travis:_ "Must be beginner's luck."

 **-Three hours later-**

 _Lavender:_ "Okay, I have had it with this blonde noodle!"

Lavender slammed her hands down on the table, making multiple cards jump up. In front of Jaune was a mountain of lien nearly going to the ceiling.

 _Jaune:_ "Aw come on, just a few more rounds."

Lavender pulled out a fan of playing cards and held them back which started to glow purple with energy

 _Lavender:_ "Oh I'll give you a few rounds!"

 _Kendra:_ "RUN!"

Everyone but Jaune sprinted out of the room leaving the blonde to the fate of multiple explosions. Once they subsided, where Jaune was now was a mystery, but at least his pile of lien was still there. Lavender giggled to herself as a few burning playing cards fell down.

 _Lavender:_ "I guess the house always win."

 _-End-_


	20. Chapter 20: Silence Before the Crescendo

**Author's Note: Welp, twenty chapters into this story and we've overcome ten thousand views (fanfare ensues). I know that really doesn't say much I felt like saying it because...self validation.**

 **-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-**

Chapter 20: Silence Before the Crescendo

"You want to know about my village?"

"Yes, you've talked about it here and there but you have not gotten into the specifics. I'm curious about a place that raised a boy such as yourself."

Travis sat at the opposite end of the table in the restaurant, leaning back in the comfy chair that probably cost more than his armor and weapon. Across from him was the stunning woman Cinder, her soft eyes that even he knew held some kind of fire. What those eyes wanted to burn though Travis had no clue. As talented as he'd gotten with lying at nearly every corner she seemed to have the skill on lockdown.

"What exactly would you want to know?" Travis tried to dissect the question, maybe find an easy answer out of this. With her in front of him, there was only so long he could resist her. "Just saying my village is a little vague."

"Is it though?" She twirled two of her fingers in his directions, that same playful smile on her face, "I just want to know more about you. Hearing about where you grew up is an excellent way to get to know one another."

Travis' face fell, he knew that there was no around it, even if he tried to change the subject Cinder had a knack of turning conversations and arguments in her favor. It seemed like she was better at negotiations than some politicians. He could only imagine what she could do with that sort of skill, both good and bad. But someone as sweet Cinder couldn't be that malicious could she?

He looked to the window overlooking the ocean, noticing how it sparkled in the moonlight, "Brandon, Sam, Reese, and the rest of us grew up in a village in the continent of Sanus. It was pretty well defended, never had to worry about the grimm." He leaned back in his chair as he lied his way through this conversation, "I never had to think about fighting, I'll tell you the truth I always wanted to be an engineer not a huntsman, never even considered that a career choice until-" his breathing hitched as he realized he didn't have a good cover up for what happened.

"Well? I'm listening," Cinder kept up her curiosity, appetizers that she had ordered while Travis had been talking arrived and she took a bite out of one of them.

"Would you believe me when I say I've done bad things?" Travis suddenly asked out of the blue, eyes going narrow as he zeroed in on the coastline.

"Depends on the severity of the action," Cinder said in her usual reserved and calculating ways.

"Would you believe me that I exiled myself and my friends from our Home?"

Now that made Cinder pause, she went over Travis' body, usually when she did he would give a goofy and snide smirk, but now he kept a straight face that looked mournful. "I suppose it's possible."

"Well I did just that, me and my friend Reese screwed up big time and it ended up getting the others caught up in it. We were kicked out of our village only to return when we become hunters, they figured it would install some sort of respect for the other villagers."

While not true for maybe ninety percent of it, it was still close to what happened back Home. Travis and Reese drew the short straws for heading out early and were forced to travel with Brandon and Sam down to California.

"After we were kicked out Kendra and a few of us got into a disagreement that ultimately split us up in groups of four. It got pretty heated." " _I mean,_ _ **no one**_ _wanted to ride with Franklin."_ That was a pretty brutal tournament of Rock, Paper, Scissors. "The rest is pretty much self explanatory from there, we arrive in Beacon midway through the year and then you show up. That's my life story."

Cinder sat there, contemplating cooly almost testing him, but for what he couldn't imagine. "You said that you didn't even consider becoming a huntsman. Why's that? You clearly have some skill." Not too much in Cinder's eyes but some shred of skill nonetheless.

"I'll take that as a compliment then," Travis said with a small chuckle, "I- Can I be honest with you here?" He waited for a nod but she just motioned her fingers for him to keep going. "I find this society barbaric."

Cinder surprisingly didn't make any motions, something Travis found odd. Insulting someone's home was usually a way to get punched in the face. Perhaps she had heard of this declaration before. He decided to keep going.

"Yeah I'll admit that this place has everything to make it hospitable and you can live here without issues, but go thirty feet outside the walls and what do you find? Oh, just monsters that will rip your head off in about fifty ways. There are local bandit tribes for god's sake, if that doesn't show the primitiveness of this culture then I don't what what will."

"What do you mean by 'this culture'? You refer to it as if there is another one."

Travis' face froze, he'd been caught rambling about Remnant again but this time in front of someone from Remnant. Other times it had been one of the others, usually Reese or maybe Brandon. Sam usually left him to his own devices whenever that would happen, the jerk he needed someone to talk to.

'I- uh- well I'm just saying life outside the villages is very different then the rest of the world."

"But wouldn't your village subscribe to your idea of Remnant being a barbaric place then? Seems to me like it would."

"You would be surprised how cut off from the rest of the world we were Cinder, we were practically in isolation."

"So you were on an island then?" She gave him a knowing look.

Travis' eyes narrowed, slightly questioning her curiosity, "You could say that." A plate of entrees appeared before both of them and Travis cleared his throat, "Now I think I'm allowed to ask a question."

"As these usually go," Cinder affirmed while looking at her food with mile discontent, "what is it you wish to ask me?"

Travis took a small breath and exhaled looking conflicted but seemed to make up his mind in the mental dilemma, "What would you do if you knew your friend committed treason against a kingdom?"

 **-X-**

"Hey Sammy, Kendra! What's up?" A slightly cheery Yang greeted as she set down a wooden table, Weiss off to the side holding a clipboard making notes or doing whatever.

As Sam was slightly pulled on his sleeve by his older cousin into the ballroom for the dance he had this sheepish look on him, maybe this was going to be harder than he thought. Especially with how Weiss was going ham on that poor clipboard.

"Oh, nothing much," Kendra kept a cheery demeanor while Sam flinched, that fake smile on her face was oblivious to Yang, oh the horror. " _Sammy_ here just has something to talk to you girls about."

"He better make it quick," Weiss hurriedly walked over, "I need to make an order for the catering section right where you're standing."

"Wow, feeling the love," Sam said to himself, upon speaking Kendra nudged him in the elbow and he chuckled nervously. "Hey, so back when Coco and the others were planning this whole dance thing she asked us if we can do her a favor."

"Okay," Yang replied coolly.

"I was made no mention of this," Weiss said upfront, when Sam looked to Kendra he got a knowing look from her. "What did Coco have in mind?"

"She wanted us to use our skills we learned from back Home," Sam said avoiding coming right out and saying it. He had to ease them into it.

"Coco wanted them to play in a rock band for entertainment," Kendra however _did not_ want to ease them into it.

"Sounds cool."

"Absolutely not!"

Yang and Weiss exchanged glances, then looked to the earthlings.

"Apparently not."

"I guess it wouldn't be the _worst_ thing in the world."

Once again they looked to each other, both somewhat annoyed at the other. Sam stepped in before the madness could continue. "Listen, what do I need to do to get this band up and running?"

"Hmmm," Yang placed a finger on her chin with a smirk on her face, "what to choose? What would you play?"

"We would choose songs from Home," Sam replied something.

"Are you sure that's safe?" Weiss questioned, "Don't you think people might ask where they come from or why they've never heard of them?"

"Weiss, it's simple," Sam scoffed throwing his hand down at her comment, "we just tell them that we came up with them on our own. We _are_ a band you know."

Kendra tilted her head and tried to find the logic in that, "Sam...isn't that piracy or plagiarism?"

"Technically it is _interdimensional_ piracy and plagiarism, that is ten times cooler than regular piracy." Sam paused with a cheeky smile while his cousin face palmed with both hands. "Come on what do you say? We wouldn't have to play _just_ rock music, we could play anything, we are really good musicians. We're gonna get both teams in on this."

Kendra's head shot up worried for her image whatever that was at this point, "Wait, what?"

"Don't worry, you're going to do great singing Paramore," Sam kept his look on Yang and Weiss ashe reached over to a very mortified Kendra and patted her on the back. "So girls, what do you think? Do we have a deal?"

"I don't know," Weiss said slowly.

"What if I got Reese to dance with you and be at your side for most of the night and cater to your every whim?" Sam raised an eyebrow. Weiss stopped functioning for a moment, her eyes wider than dinner plates, mouth hung open. Even Yang went up to close it and it just fell back open, she even swung her arms up and down in front of her eyes to get any sort of reaction. "Weiss?"

Sam's voice shook her out of her trance, "As much as I know some people would enjoy that-"

" _People like you Weiss?"_

"I still don't think it is in our budget to-"

"Did I mention we're free?"

Not even a heartbeat passed when Weiss gripped his hand tightly and shook it rapidly, "You're hired." Sam was about to chuckle, but with her grip Weiss pulled him in violently, his ear just in perfect range to receive a whisper. "If you tell _anyone_ about this conversation, there will be nowhere you can hide, I will find you."

Sam nodded, gulped, and desperately gasped, "Yep, got it, never happened."

Weiss released him and returned him with an assuming, completely innocent, smile. "Good, now go practice, I'll be coming by to make sure it is up to my personal standards."

" _Got it, so don't let Travis sing."_ Sam said to himself as he and Kendra started to walk away, Kendra herself was still trying to fathom the whole 'Reese slaving away' the two had just worked out. Sensing this, Sam spoke up, "Don't worry cuz, I got this."

"If it's anything like your mother's surprise party a while back I don't think this will end well."

"How was I supposed to know that Great Uncle Louis had an allergic reaction to latex balloons? I said I was sorry."

When they got back to the practicing room, both Sam and Kendra noticed how Franklin and Lavender were standing off to one side looking somewhat afraid while Reese was off to the other happily drinking from a water bottle and flipping through his scroll.

"What happened?" Kendra asked.

"Oh thank god you're here Kendra," Lavender and Franklin both sprinted behind her back to hide from the apparent demon that was Reese. "Never leave us with Reese again, he's scary."

"What'd he do?" Sam raised his eyebrow then looked at Reese who was just chilling there.

"Have you never noticed the creepy stuff he says?" Lavender asked pointing her thumb at Reese.

"Like what?"

"Uhh, how about when he says he may have killed somebody?"

Even Sam had to take a moment to process that, "Reese? Care to explain?"

Reese looked up as if nothing was wrong, looking content as a butterfly. "I mean I never said I _killed_ him, they're jumping to conclusions."

"See?" Sam said with a grin, "You're overreacting."

"Now I will say I did drag the poor man into the closet," Reese immediately said.

Sam had this look on his face that could be only described as his foot had been put in his mouth and genuine fear for what Reese just said. The issue with Reese, in contrast to Travis, was that he rarely if ever used sarcasm. With the Euphonium player, you knew he was joking by his tone or he would give a smug smile. With their Percussionist friend here, there was rarely ever a way to tell if he was pulling your leg or….actually pulling your leg because he ripped it off.

"Well moving from that incredibly terrifying sentence, should we continue rehearsing?" Sam asked clapping his hands together like a giddy school girl.

"RWBY were okay with us playing?" Franklin asked a bit excited.

"Yep, we just had to pull a few strings," Sam said, hurryin to get in his place, not trying to look at Reese.

"What kind of strings?" Lavender asked putting the guitar strap over her shoulder and moving aside her purple hair.

"Oh, nothing much, just the usual stuff," Sam said incredibly fast, "helping set up, making sure we're appropriate-"

"Letting Weiss have Reese as her personal bitch for the night," Kendra interrupted with a snide smile that must have ran in the family line. Sam did the same thing to Weiss.

There was a period of silence, a awkward, terrifying, and long silence. Sam's gulp could be heard through most of the room. Kendra smiled and waved starting to leave, "Have fun with your rehearsal Sammy, I'm going to go practice some Paramore songs."

" _Son of a bitch,"_ Sam cursed in his head as the smell of burnt wood invaded his nostrils.

"Sam," he didn't want to turn around, he looked to the door as Kendra gave one last shit eating grin for him to see. Slowly and steeling his nerves in the process, he turned to face Reese, whose hands were on fire burning the drumsticks in his hands. "Want to run that by me again? Who is becoming whose bitch?"

" _Save me Brandon."_

 **-X-**

"Committed treason against a kingdom?" Cinder said, even she didn't expect something like that coming out of her date's mouth.

"Yeah," Travis replied, "just kind of wondering what you would do in that sort of case. Not that it didn't happen...because it didn't. I'm just saying in a hypothetical case should the event ever arise."

Cinder made an important note that Travis was awful at keeping some things subtle, "Well apparently if I ever were to know a friend who would commit such a heinous crime I would want to know why they did it."

"You wouldn't tell the authorities?' Travis questioned, something in his tone gave the idea that he was judging her.

"No, what good would that do?"

"Umm, you know, stop them for being criminal and return the information before it gets out."

She could almost feel as if he was testing her, the way he pressed his argument and posed his questions were all made to question her character. The fact Travis let it slip that 'information' was acquired said a lot and meant a lot to Cinder, in her world information meant power. And she craved power. "Well it depends on how you want to do with that information. I can already tell one of your friends is guilty of doing this, how you go about using that information is how you find your answer."

"So if I've used that information…"

"Then you are an accomplice and equally to blame, but I imagine a stand up person such as yourself would never do such a thing," Cinder said with all the sarcasm and snide in both Remnant and Earth.

"Goddammit Reese, what'd you get us into?" Travis remarked to himself, quietly chiding the percussionist.

" _So Reese is a bad boy. Hmm, interesting,"_ Cinder said to herself, barely hearing her date's words come out. From what Roman, and technically Neopolitan, said that Reese was with the brats who've kept interrupting and interfering with her plans. That fact Reese of all people did this only added to the mystery that was Team BBRS. She wanted to pry into this further, nothing was really going to stop her. Travis was practically an instrument she was perfect at playing. But that would have to wait, she had her own plans to make way for.

"Since we are appearing to trade questions back and forth, may I make a request," Cinder placed a napkin up to her lips dabbing away any of the food that may have been there.

"Sure, go ahead," Travis said finishing whatever food was in his mouth, "what's on your mind?"

"Well as you know the school dance is coming up and-" Upon hearing those words Travis started to choke, uncontrollably, like to the point other people were starting to stare at him. "I suppose you weren't prepared for that."

When Travis recovered, he took a swig of water and coughed one more time to clear his throat. In a somewhat hoarse voice he managed to get out, "Was that really the best way to follow up the previous conversation? We go from 'hey my friend committed treason against a kingdom' to 'let's talk about prom."

"Is there really a perfect follow up to your question? If you are so concerned about it then we shouldn't have even talked about it in the first place."

"Why do you have to be right?" Travis asked himself, hand running down his face, "But anyways, the dance, what about it?"

"Well it is only natural as we are students and everyone is going to go to it. It's the Vytal Festival Dance, a tradition like any other for the Academies." The way Cinder said that made Travis question her, it almost sounded fake but was hard to tell, "And since we are going out I imagine we were going as a couple."

"I've never been one for dances," Travis said, but immediately the girl across from him gave him this glare that made him turn one eighty on his heels, "but I suppose if it's an important tradition then I must indulge. Just know I can't dance."

Cinder clapped her hands together, "Perfect."

" _That I'm going or that I can't dance?"_

"I should mention though I will be running late, there is something I need to take care of in Vale."

"Being fashionably late I see, that's fine, I can always hang out with my team. Brandon and Sam will probably go alone if Velvet and Coco don't make it back before then."

"That will be fine. Now, back to your treasonous partner."

Travis choked again on his food, " _Stop pivoting the goddamn conversation!"_

 **-Early the Next Morning-**

"Wait….you want us to do what now?"

"Perform, play in a band, come on guys it will be fun."

Sam currently was getting two very different looks. Travis currently was puzzled beyond belief while Brandon was questioning Sam's sanity. Maybe Coco smooched it out of him. Just being next to the woman was mentally draining. So hearing this only made Brandon palm his face, loud enough that it made the others wince.

"Sam can I ask why you want to do this?" Brandon asked not removing his palm that covered his eyes. The disappointment was layered in his voice like one of the those ice cream cakes that are more filling than they appear.

"Um..because why not?" He said with this hands in the air, "Dudes it will be fun."

"But we...I…," Travis tried, he tried so hard, to find words, "What the f! k?"

"Come on, we haven't gotten a chance to play any music for anybody since coming here. Sure there was that one time early on, but for god's sake we have done nothing besides acting like gladiators."

"We've been busy Sam," Brandon said.

"Yeah, super busy," Sam mocked with his arms crossed, "Travis here went on a date last night and you lectured Ruby for an hour about what happened with Reese and Kylie. I can totally see how you're time is a precious commodity."

"In my defense if Ruby and the others didn't take Reese and the others I would not have had to talk to her," Brandon defended mirroring Sam's crossed arms.

Sam turned to Travis, "And you?"

Travis's face made it look like he was trying to come up with a reason to why his superseded Sam's, but his face fell, "Yeah I got nothing, besides a date to the dance."

"She actually wants to go with you to the dance?" Brandon questioned.

"And you didn't pay her?" Sam followed.

"No, Sam, I didn't pay her," Travis said through gritted teeth.

"And you're sure she's actually a she? Not some transvestite or some Caitlyn Jenner crap?"

"One: that's just rude, two Caitlyn Jenner...really?"

"I'm just questioning why that Cinder chick would suddenly be all into you," Sam said, "there's something off about her Travis be careful."

"I think you're overreacting Sam," even Brandon defended Travis for once, "what could one person do?"

"Travis here is basically Green Lantern, Lavender is Gambit, Reese is Ghost Rider, Kylie is a Water Bender, I'm...whatever Travis and Reese still have to find a correlation to, you and Franklin are basically Batman and the Punisher, and god knows who Kendra is when she finally shows us her Semblance. We could easily do anything and we've only been here a little over half a year, imagine what someone who's been here all their life could do. Besides, I have a sixth sense for these things, I'm telling you to keep an eye on Cinder."

Travis sighed, somewhat in defeat and to get Sam off his back, "Fine I'll keep an eye on her, but I'm starting to agree with Lavender that we're all starting to get paranoid."

"Jitters," Brandon said, "I think we're all starting to get homesick."

"Yeah," Travis repliend solemnly.

That's when Sam butted back in with his earlier conversation starter, "Which is why you should help us put this concert on!"

"Sam," Travis said, "I can barely sing, you heard me in class."

Sam did, the poor windows broke, not from high pitch but for the sweet merciful release of death. The artist who wrote that song was rolling in his grave when he did.

Yet that didn't deter Samuel Perish, who wrapped an arm around both of their shoulders, "Which is why you're playing guitar and string bass."

"I haven't touched a guitar in three years," Travis was still trying to weasel his way out of this.

"We have a few weeks until the dance, I'll have Lavender help you, Reese did originally say you should play guitar."

"Remind me to mess with his armor," Travis turned to Brandon who nodded and made a note in his scroll. "I don't know Sam, it's been a while and we only have few weeks-"

"We're going to play Crazy Train."

On a dime Travis responded with, "I'm in." He started to walk away, "Time to get my playing finger ready!"

"Well Brandon?" Sam said with a smile that only furthered Brandon's faltering stance.

"Fine," his resolve gave way, "what am I doing?"

"Oh, I'm not telling you, I have leverage over you so you get to do my bidding."

"But you told Travis."

"Yeah and I just now put Crazy Train in our lineup, I only did that to get him on board."

Brandon looked at Sam with a flat stare, "You are an evil little man."

"And is the boyfriend of your girlfriend's team leader, watch your tongue."

"I thought you were friends with benefits?"

"I swear if I hear that one more time!"

 **-Two Weeks Later-**

The bottom floor of the arena beneath the campus of Beacon Academy had become a noisy little spot. Not because of fighting, or metal clashing upon metal , but because of music that no one on Remnant had heard of. The sounds had brought some of the students to investigate but the doors were locked, most of the sounds muffled, and any way to view what was happening was blocked by curtains. Inside though was a completely different story though, multiple guitars, several empty water bottles, drums, and someone who might still be in the closet. And no, not in that way.

"Okay," Sam took a raspy and tired breath, "let's take like a ten minute break."

"Thank god," Lavender would have dropped her guitar had it not cost so much, instead she leaned up against the wall and slid down her back to the floor.

"I think my fingers are gonna fall off," Travis followed suit, dressed in a green long sleeved shirt and jeans. The sleeves though were rolled up to his elbows.

"Hey last rehearsal before the dance, basically a dress rehearsal," Sam said before taking a swig of water.

"Speaking of dressing," Kendra said looking the least tired of the group, "what are we going to wear while performing?"

Sam's head shooting up told them all what he had for an answer. Nothing.

"Oh for god's sake Sam," his cousin rolled her eyes.

"Well excuse me for not thinking of wardrobe choices, just wear regular clothes a and then get back into formal attire."

"Do you realise how long it take a girl to put on a dress," Lavender combatted.

"Kylie wears dress to fight," Sam pointed to the faunus girl who had for the most part recovered from the events a few weeks past.

"I think this is more formal," Kylie said but then giggled, "we're trying to look our best. Don't worry I'll teach you girls my secret."

To all of their surprise the doors swung open, how they were opened when they were locked must have been Goodwitch's doing. Weiss, along with Ruby and Yang stepped into the room.

"Close the door would ya?" Sam told them, to which Yang complied and shut the doors closed, "What brings you here girls?"

"Weiss-y wants to spy on Reese," Yang teased and was quickly elbowed by Weiss.

The heiress cleared her throat to regain her posture, "I came to see how your practice was coming along. We do not have long until the dance so I wished to see your progress."

"But yeah she wants to see Reese beat more than that drum," Yang's comment got herself slapped and elbowed again, one of Reese's sticks snapped in two with a growl aimed not at Weiss or Yang but at Sam remembering what Sam promised Weiss in exchange.

"Let's just get to playing," Sam nervously said, tossing the bottle aside.

"Which one?" Lavender asked slinging the guitar strap over her shoulder, Franklin followed suit leaving Travis, Brandon, Kendra, and Kylie off to the sidelines.

" I feel like playing Green Day...Brain Stew?"

"Sounds good to me," Franklin replied with a chuckle and tightening the pegs on the side of his bass.

 **(a/n: you can skip this part if you want to)**

 _~Song Start~_

The opening riff started with the guitars strumming in a very simple rhythm and with a breath Sam stepped up to the mike.

 _I'm having trouble trying to sleep_

 _I'm counting sheep but running out_

 _As time ticks by_

 _And still I try_

 _No rest for crosstops in my mind_

 _On my own, here we go_

The drums and bass came in, out of her peripheral vision Ruby could see Travis along with Kendra's head bobbing their heads to the music. After there was a long pause between lyrics just of hearing the riffs Sam gleamed a smile at Lavender and stepped back up

 _My eyes feel like they're gonna bleed_

 _Dried up and bulging out my skull_

 _My mouth is dry_

 _My face is numb_

 _Fucked up and spun out in my room_

 _On my own, here we go_

Another break in the lyrics had Ruby this time looking at her own sister who was grinning moving her head with the beat, her golden hair moving in time. This did seem like some of the music she would listen to.

 _My mind is set on overdrive_

 _The clock is laughing in my face_

 _A crooked spine_

 _My senses dulled_

 _Passed the point of delirium_

 _On my own, here we go_

As Ruby looked to Weiss she had to stifle a giggle, partially due to her utterly confused expression that was mixed with annoyance.

 _My eyes feel like they're gonna bleed_

 _Dried up and bulging out my skull_

 _My mouth is dry_

 _My face is numb_

 _Fucked up and spun out in my room_

 _On my own, here we go_

Sam stepped away from the microphone and let Lavender step up who went ham on the last riff of the music most of her hair shaking violently with the drums as probably for the first time in a while Ruby had seen a wide smile on Reese's face.

 _~Song End~_

"So what do you think?" Sam asked, eager written all over his face.

"Uhh…" Weiss said not sure what to say.

"That was awesome!" Yang shouted, "How many more you got like that?"

"Green Day? Or rock music borderlining on emo? Answer for both: Plenty."

"Good."

"No, not good," Weiss finally was able to push out some words, "this is still a formal dance, not a nightclub."

Travis leaned into Brandon's ear, "Clearly she's never seen a prom from back Home."

"Come on Weiss, have a little fun with this," Yang pleaded, "Rubes you're the team leader tell her."

"Uhh.." Ruby tried, she really did, "Weiss.."

However Brandon stood between them with a smiling face, "Weiss, Yang I'm sure we can work this out. Why don't you two join me and Sam for a drink and we can hammer a song list that would be the best of both worlds."

Weiss grumbled something, somewhere just maybe he heard her mention 'Reese' in there. "Fine Brandon, twenty minutes in our room and don't be late." Weiss walked away with a *click-clack* in her heels on the hard floor.

Travis turned to Reese waiting for Weiss to leave the room so he could say, "Reese why do you attract complete bitches?"

The smell of burning wood filled the room as Reese's hands ignited ruining another pair of sticks for Reese. "I hate you so much."

"Hey I wasn't the one who made you Weiss' personal bitch for the dance, that was all Sam's."

To avoid getting burnt, or maybe even crucified, Sam sidestepped to the door, "You know I think I'm going to get an early look at the list for Weiss."

"May as well join him," Brandon said following after him, "come on Yang."

"Sure," the blonde replied with Ruby slowly with her.

"Something got you down Ruby?" Travis asked, "Out of the three I thought you would be more gung ho about this."

The younger reaper started to stutter, "Oh no Travis, it's great, it's just that Blake's been acting kind of distant for a while now."

"She's kind of letting our investigation get to her head," Yang added, "we want her to go to the dance but she won't listen to us."

Kendra looked over to Kylie who had averted her gaze, "Blake's the cat faunus right?"

"Yeah, why?" Yang asked.

"Why don't I try to talk to her?" Kendra offered, "A woman to woman chat."

The sisters exchanged looks and Yang shrugged, "Just don't be too rough with her. She's getting pretty fragile, touch her too hard and she might break."

Kendra started to walk to the door, her back to Yang and Ruby. "Don't worry," with a smile on her face, she turned, "I wouldn't dream of hurting her." She left the others with a solid slam of the door.

"Blake's gonna die isn't she?" Reese asked.

"Yep," Lavender said with a hard sound on the 'p'.

"What's she gonna do?" Franklin asked.

Travis sighed, he took out a bottle of water and took a swig, "What she's always had to do, be older than she already is."

 **-X-**

The Beacon Library, for the most part, was empty. The desks and chairs left by many of the students who decided to turn in for the night. All of them except the cat faunus Blake with her bag riddled eyes, dark rings upon dark rings lining her features. Her fingers had been sore for a solid two weeks with all her searching anything on the White Fang. Discussions, articles, news reports, any and all things regarding the terrorist organization. Even though her body needed rest she wouldn't stop until she knew exactly what they and Roman Torchwick were doing. Not even the red dot moving mischievously up her arm wouldn't stop her. The red dot moved though, catching her attention, going over to her hand and circling her knuckles. Then it the screen circling around the middle. Then it stopped in the center and in her tired mind the image that lingered in her mind looked like a target in a shooting range. Then the dot moved, down to the desk, then up her chest, and even though Blake couldn't see it she knew where it landed.

Right between her eyes, an obvious shot for a sniper. Immediately she ducked out of the way and leaned up against the leg of the desk. Had they finally found her? Had Adam learned she escaped to Beacon.

"Get out from the desk Belladonna I know you're there."

That...was not Adam. Unless Adam had a change of heart and sex. That was most undeniably a woman talking, but that still could have meant she was an agent of his.

"For fuck's sake Blake it's Sam cousin Kendra. Get out here I need to talk to you."

Blake slowly, and still cautiously stood up to see Kendra standing in the room with a laser pointer in her combat gear, _Persuasion_ in a smaller form attached to her back.

"What do you want?" The disdain was about as subtle as Travis' love for anything science fiction.

"Oh wanted to talk to you, we need to have chat, girl to girl," Kendra replied, malice possibly sprinkled in her voice.

"I need to get back to work," Blake shut her down, moving back to the terminal.

"You're gonna get people hurt Blake," Kendra said, not even bothering with Blake's attitude, "working yourself to death like this."

"I don't have the luxury of waiting around waiting for something to happen."

A sudden click had Blake looking up and in a second she jumped back in her seat as the silver spiked cylinder of _Persuasion_ came into view and smashed into the wooden desk.

"What are you doing?!" Blake screeched, the amount of hours wasted were immense, all that work gone.

"Sucks doesn't it? You trust somebody and then they go behind your back."

"What are you talking about?!"

"Kylie, you dumbass, I'm talking about Kylie. Do you have any idea how torn up she was after you decided to play vigilante for a night?"

"It's not my fault Reese practically forced her into it."

"Oh, I know what Reese did. However you could have said 'no' like a sensical person. But no, you had to ignore common sense and think you were invincible.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Blake's voice rose, echoing off the walls of the library.

"Do you honestly think that four teenage girls can really take down an entire crime syndicate? Do you really think you could eliminate a worldwide terrorist organization? You must have no idea how the real world works."

"I know plenty, I was a part of the White Fang. What do you know about what I've gone through?!"

"You would be surprised what I know Blake. I know you're angry, like part of your life was stripped away, I know you feel helpless right now but that isn't going to change anything. I know it sucks that you can't do much to change the world." Kendra got right into Blake's face with a sneer to match travis on his angriest of days, "You don't know what the f! k I've been through you spoiled little brat."

"I'm spoiled?! I'm trying to stop the White Fang, what are you doing?!"

"I'm trying to go Home, we all are Blake," Kendra kept right in her face, "let me make this clear Belladonna, we are going Home and I won't miss you. You're just going to end up hurting the people around you because you don't care about what happens to yourself. You feel responsible for what happened that you'll destroy yourself to pay some kind of retribution."

"And how would you know that?" Blake said with arms crossed.

"Because when my dad died I felt helpless."

For once the color of the world returned to Blake's eyes, the weight of Kendra's words finally hitting her. Blake noticed as Kendra shifted her arms around, and even started avoiding her gaze.

"I assume the guys never told you about what's happening back Home?" Her voice was soft, fragile, probably the first time Blake had seen any of the earthlings in such a vulnerable state. "Well I don't blame them, sort of depressing when you do hear it."

"Hear what?"

"Do you have any idea how petty your squabbles look like to us? Your 'Great War' can barely hold a candle to many of the wars back in Earth. We've had two versions of the Great War on Earth, but that was a long time ago. Yet we always find a way to shoot at each other, my daddy was sent to tour in Afghanistan back when I was just a young girl, I remember kissing him on the cheek goodbye and watching him go with his unit. That was the last I ever saw of him."

She took a few steps of lean on a desk and pulled out a photograph from her back pocket. "I still remember the day when my mom got the call that my dad was killed in action. He was fighting terrorist and he died a hero who saved a small group of children. I was eleven at the time so I sort of knew what happened but also had trouble processing it at the same time. All I knew was that my dad was gone and he was never coming back. Do you know what I did Blake?"

Blake shrugged, "Got revenge?"

Out of all responses Blake could have thought of, none of them were laugh out loud as Kendra did, "You truly don't understand a thing about what the guys have told you. We don't fight on Earth like here on Remnant, you really can't do that sort of thing. My dad was killed halfway around the world, no way a young girl like that could ever get revenge. So I was stuck and for a long time I stewed, I let it eat away at me and wanted to be alone from everyone. The only person who could cheer me up was good old Sammy. He encouraged me to go into music where I met Kylie, Lavender, Brandon, and I guess the other three are alright."

"So what, you want me to relax? When there's injustice in this world?"

"There is injustice everywhere Blake, that's what I want you to know. I can never get revenge for those who killed my dad, but when I get back I plan on joining the military and fighting for those who can't. But I'm doing it when I know I should, right now you're seventeen, I'm only a year older, you can't be making huge decisions like this."

"And why not? Why can't I go help people right now when they need it?"

"Because you can't help people if you work yourself to death, look at you, I could probably push you over with a poke. When I lost my dad I let that consume me and I wasn't in a good place for a long time. I never told Sam this, but I was _this_ close to taking one too many pills that were prescribed for me. I was driven to the point of near suicide, but the thought of hurting my mother and more importantly my little cousin made me stopped and if you continue to do this you're going to hurt your team who loves you in many ways." Kendra stood up, and different from how she entered, there was a smile on her face, "So go to the dance, have fun, be a kid while you still can. Those days are running out for you."

Kendra, in her now tired and somber mood, left the library, "You know, I planned on beating the sense into you, but right now you're too tired to even hold your weapon. Right now, you would be easy prey for the Fang. Getting some sleep and surrounding yourself with your team would help protect you. If that doesn't tell you to get some rest then I guess you're a lost cause."

The door slammed from the library and Kendra took a shallow breath, still gripping the photo of her father in military gear. With two fingers she pressed them against her lips and placed them on the photo. "Thank you dad." She put the photo back and pulled out her scroll, front and center was a clock counting down.

 _-Project Gaia in 59:15:13-_

 **-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-**

 **The countdown has begun, Project Gaia is approaching, it is time to make music and time for the dance next chapter. There will be more musical parts with other songs from a few differing genres of music (not many differing as I'm choosing them but enough). I know it's a bit different form the canon but I wanted to give a different perspective for Blake, may not have been the best choice but I'm sticking to it. I imagine next chapter will be a bit shorter because it is the dance and it will be more filler outside of you know the break in to the CCT. Also, poor unaware Travis. Well twenty chapters later were approaching the end of Vol 2. See ya later suckers.**


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